In honor of World Water Day, we are highlighting beautiful Lake Malawi! Lake Malawi (Lake Niassa/Nyasa) is nestled between Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania. It is the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa.
The sandy shores of Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi is almost as long as Malawi itself!
Lake Malawi is home to a multitude of fish and has established fishies serving each adjoining country.
Currently, fisheries focus on small species, with 80 percent of the total catches being made up of Copdochromis spp.(‘Utaka’), Engraulicypris sardella (‘Usipa’), and Lethrinops spp. (‘Chisawasawa’). These three groups alone contribute about 20 percent of dietary animal protein to Malawians (source: African Great Lakes Information Platform).
Story Time representative, Bar-nan, on a boat in the vast Lake Malawi.
These small fish, and most commonly the Usipa, are often paired with Nsima (a maize porridge) for a typical Malawian meal. Check out different types of food in Malawi in our previous blog post: https://storytimeedu.org/stories/2017/8/25/what-is-it-like-to-eat-in-malawi