what will my life be like? -> travel -> places to see outside malawi  
  places to see outside malawi  
 
 
   
  Tanzania, and some of the best safaris in the world, are just a quick flight from Malawi.
   

Southern Africa offers an amazing variety of places to see and experience. Most volunteers take a trip during their service to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, just over Malawi’s western border. It is renowned as the best park in southern Africa and contains everything: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, hyena, wildebeest, more types of antelope than can be counted or remembered, and birds galore. Another fabulous site in Zambia is Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The falls are a mile wide at the top, and worth seeing for themselves, but most PCVs also manage to get in either river rafting on the lower river (the most class 5 rapids in the world) or a bungee jump from the bridge over the gorge (2nd highest in the world), or both. Going overland through Zambia is a beautiful way to see the country and the whole trip can be done in a week.
Mozambique has some of the most stunning coastline in the world, and can be crossed by train, bus, or hitchhiking from Malawi. South Africa offers Cape Town, the coastal Garden Route, Durban, cage diving with sharks, SCUBA, the Drakensburg mountains, and amazing game parks like Krueger National Park.

 
   
Jack Ass penguins (yes, that is their real name) are everywhere in Cape Twon South Africa.  
   

Zimbabwe also borders Malawi, and Harare is only about 8 hours by car from Blantyre. Although there has been some violence and political turmoil there recently, tourism is still safe, and many volunteers travel overland through Zim to get to Victoria Falls from the other side.

Tanzania can be reached by bus through the north and offers plenty of exciting sites. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa is there, as well as the Serengeti Ngorongoro Crater and other first class game parks. Zanzibar and Pemba are beautiful islands off the coast with excellent marine ecosystems and both tourism boomtowns and rural getaways. Malawi is perfectly situated to send you off throughout the region to see anything from world famous peaks, to animals, to water (fresh or salt), and the travel opportunities are endless.

 

  
 
 

After getting your super cheap scuba certification in Lake Malawi, you can scuba dive or snorkel off the coast of Mozambique, Zanzibar, South Africa and countless other places offering crystal clear water and beautiful fish.

  
  If you are expecting visitors who want to go on safari, South Luwangwa in Zambia is reputed as the best park in Southern Africa. The best time to go is just before the rains (late September/October) or when the rains have just begun (early November).