​Wildlife & Animals – Nyika NP

Philip Briggs
Expert
By Philip Briggs

Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Bradt guidebooks to African destinations, including the guide to Malawi.

Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Bradt guidebooks to African destinations, including the guide to Malawi.

Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of the Bradt guidebook to Malawi.

Philip is the author of the Bradt guidebook to Malawi.

There is a good variety of wildlife on Nyika Plateau, but a lot of the big safari animals, including lion, are missing. Buffalo and elephant are present on the lower slopes in the forest areas of the park, but this is not accessible to tourists. Due to poaching, wildlife numbers are generally low outside of the area around the lodge.

Abundant
Common
Occasional
Rare
None
ElephantOccasional
HippoNone
ZebraCommon
LionNone
LeopardOccasional
HyenaOccasional

Wildlife Highlights

Nyika has the highest density of leopards in Malawi. Although shy, they can often be spotted on night drives. Some seem to have taken residence in the forest behind the lodge, and can sometimes be seen drinking at the Chelinda dam. Crawshay's zebra, a localized sub-species of Burchell’s zebra, is common around Chelinda as are eland, roan antelope, common reedbuck, bushbuck and duiker.

Best Time for Wildlife Viewing

Wildlife viewing is good throughout the year in Nyika. November to May are the best months to come here as this is the warmest time of the year. June to August tends to be very cold (which makes the otherwise popular night drives challenging), and some animals tend to move to lower altitudes at that time.

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Wildlife Photos

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