Funny thing is that a search on the lake still shows lake Nyasa all over the place. Anyway, thanks for the update. I'll have to update the hard drive in my brain. its been around 20 years since my dad was working in southern Africa and unfortunately, I never had the chance to go there while he was working, but I have heard all the great stories.
Lake Malawi...looks like no openwater swimming "carnivourous fish and abundent crocs" :-)
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Lake Malawi 
Lake Malawi seen from the Space Shuttle. Likoma and Chizumulu islands are visible near the centre of the image
Lake Malawi, originally known as
Lake Nyasa,
Lake Nyassa and
Lake Niassa after the
Yao word for "lake" (officially, still called
Niassa in Mozambique), is the most southerly
lake in the
Great African Rift Valley system. First "discovered" by the famed Scottish explorer and missionary Dr.
David Livingstone, Lake Malawi has sometimes been referred to as "Livingstone's Lake."
[/url] Geography
The lake is about 560 km long and 75 km wide at its widest point, with a total area of approximately 29,600 sq km, and is bordered by
Mozambique,
Malawi, and
Tanzania. Its outlet is the
Shire River; its largest tributary is the Ruhuhu. About three quarters of the lake is in Malawi; the rest is in
Mozambique.
The lake lies in the
Great African Rift Valley, a large
graben caused by
crustal extension. It probably formed about 40,000 years ago.
[/url] European discovery and colonization
David Livingstone was the first European to discover the lake, in 1859. Much of the area surrounding the lake was subsequently claimed by the
British Empire to form the colony of
Nyasaland. Although
Portugal colonised the eastern shores of the lake, the islands of
Likoma and
Chizumulu which lie just off the shore were colonised by Scottish
missionaries from Nyasaland, and as a result were incorporated as part of Nyasaland rather than
Mozambique.
In
1914, the lake saw a brief naval engagement when a British ship, on hearing that
World War I had begun, sank a German ship in Deutsch Ost-Afrika (see
History of Tanzania) territorial waters.
[/url] Important islands
A view of the lake from Likoma Island
There are two inhabited islands in the lake,
Likoma and
Chizumulu. Likoma is dominated by a huge stone Anglican cathedral, built by missionaries in the early 20th century. A notable feature of both islands is the large number of
Baobab trees. The islands support a population of several thousand people, who grow
cassava,
bananas and
mangos, as well as fishing the waters of the lake.
[/url] Lake transport
Large-scale transport between settlements along the shores of the lake and between the Malawi shore and Likoma and Chizumulu islands is provided by
steamers. The MV Ilala is the best known, although in recent years has often been out of service. When running, it travels between
Monkey Bay at the southern end of the lake to
Karonga in the north, and occasionally to
Iringa in
Tanzania.
Boats travel about twice a week from Nkhata Bay on the mainland to Likoma and Chizumulu islands, taking about five hours to cross the lake. Neither island has a usable
port, and boats moor offshore before transferring passengers and produce to the shore in small
dinghies.
Informal transport between the two islands, and between Likoma Island and the Mozambique town of Cobue, is provided by small
dhow-type boats.
[/url] Wildlife
Lake Malawi has traditionally provided a major food source to the residents of Malawi as it is rich in fish, the most famous of which is the Chambo, a fresh-water perch. Lake Malawi also holds a fish group known as the
Malawi cichlid. These fish are divided into two basic groups First is the open-swimming, usually carnivorous species, often with colorful males and drab females, are
Peacocks or Haps; the latter is short for Haplochromine, though the genus Haplochromis is no longer used for them. Second is a group locally and popularly known as
mbuna, which means rockdweller. These fish are smaller, generally vegetarian, and both sexes are quite colorful, though many species are dimorphic. Cichlids are an important export for Malawi, but wild populations are increasingly threatened by commercial collecting and localized pollution. Other wildlife resident in the lake includes abundant
crocodiles, and a large population of fish eagles which feed off the fish population.
The lake also supports populations of the
snail which spreads
bilharzia. For many years this was strenuously denied by the government, which feared it would deter
tourism in the area, but since the fall of
Hastings Banda, the presence of bilharzia in the lake has been more widely acknowledged.
[/url] See also
