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Mumbo Island: Malawi’s Great, Green Island Paradise

By Stephen Cunliffe

Mumbo Island Camp in Lake Malawi National Park is a piece of paradise surrounded by the azure waters of the ‘lake of stars’. The small, eco-friendly island resort is popular not only with R&R-seeking sun lizards, but also a staggeringly high density of otters that frolic and fish in the waters surrounding the island.

Strict back-of-house procedures ensure the island remains free of any waste generated by camp operations. Kitchen waste is separated and recycled, while dry, composting toilets can be found in all of the bathrooms. With no shortage of sunlight, the ‘green’ camp is exclusively solar powered with a tiny carbon footprint – on account of the boat transfers that ferry guests to and from the mainland. What is the eco-friendly operation’s greatest sustainability coup? Its four longest-serving, local employees have all risen through the ranks from unskilled labourers, to fill senior management positions today.

The eco-friendly paradise of Mumbo Island Camp is a deservedly proud member of the top 50 sustainable safari operations, as selected by David Bristow and Colin Bell for inclusion in their magnificent coffee table book: Africa’s Finest. If you’d like to get your hands on a copy of this book, you can order it here.

Mumbo Island Tours

Beaches Best Places To Stay

By Stephen Cunliffe

Stephen is a travel writer and avid conservationist whose work appears in prestigious magazines such as Africa Geographic and Travel Africa.