Liwonde National Park

Liwonde National Park is located in southern Malawi, bordered by the Shire River, and characterized by lush floodplains and dense woodlands. Covering 548 square kilometres, the park stretches along the Shire River just south of Lake Malombe and Lake Malawi, near the Mozambique border. Established in 1973, it's widely considered Malawi's finest game park and one of Africa's great conservation comeback stories — since African Parks took over management in 2015, the park has seen remarkable wildlife recovery, with cheetah, lion, black rhino, and wild dog reintroduced between 2016 and 2022.

The park is now a Big 5 destination, home to black rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, and buffalo, along with cheetah, African wild dog, hyena, sable and roan antelope, hippo, crocodile, and over 460 recorded bird species. Birdwatching highlights include Pel's fishing owl, Böhm's bee-eater, Livingstone's flycatcher, and Lillian's lovebird.