Lilongwe

Overview

Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi and the is loacted in the Central Region at an altitude of about 1000m. Lilongwe is some 300km north of Blantyre and is not its largest city (that honor belongs to Blantyre), Lilongwe is fairly reasonably sized with a population of about 250,000. There are two distinct parts to the city, the Old Town, the original Lilongwe, which features busy African markets and many Asian shops, hotels and restaurants, and the New Town, which is less than 20 years old and hosts the main Government Buildings, Diplomatic Missions, International Aid Agencies and the Reserve Bank Headquarters which ranks amongst one of the most unique examples of architecture in Lilongwe. There are new shopping precincts, hypermarkets, hotels and restaurants, all accessible by wide roads of a generally good standard. Traffic is not heavy (but at night-time watch out for cars driving with no lights!) and there is a relaxed atmosphere to life in Lilongwe.

History