Cape Maclear or Chembe is a town in the Mangochi District

Mangochi District

Mangochi is a district in the Southern Region of Malawi. The capital is Mangochi. The district covers an area of 6,273 km.² and has a population of 610,239.Mangochi contains thirteen National Assembly constituencies...

 of Malawi

Malawi

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

's Southern Region

Southern Region, Malawi

The Southern Region of Malawi, population 5,876,784, covers an area of 31,753 km². Its capital city is Blantyre.Of the 28 districts in Malawi, 12 are located within the Southern Region They are: Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Mulanje, Mwanza, Neno, Nsanje,...

. The town, situated on the Nankumba Peninsula, is on the southern shore of Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi , is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa. This lake, the third largest in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania...

 and is the busiest resort on Lake Malawi. Cape Maclear is close to the islands of Domwe and Thumbwe on Lake Malawi, and is in Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park is a national park located in Malawi at the southern end of Lake Malawi. It is the only national park in Malawi that was created to protect fish and aquatic habitats. Despite this, Lake Malawi National Park does include a fair amount of land, including several small...

.

History

In 1859, the missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 and explorer

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 David Livingstone

David Livingstone

David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...

 found the Cape, and named it "Cape Maclear" after his friend, the astronomer

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 Thomas Maclear

Thomas Maclear

Sir Thomas Maclear was an Irish-born South African astronomer who became Her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope....

, who was the Astronomer Royal

Astronomer Royal

Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the second is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834....

 at the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

. In October 1875, a new mission, "Livingstonia", was set up by a group of members of the Free Church of Scotland. Before the missionaries arrived, the area was controlled by the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Yao people

Yao (ethnic group in Africa)

The Yao people, Wayao, are a major ethnic and linguistic group based at the southern end of Lake Malawi, which played an important part in the history of East Africa during the 19th century. The Yao are a predominantly Muslim people group of about 2 million spread over three countries, Malawi,...

. The graves of the some of the missionaries are in Cape Maclear, overlooking the bay. Although Cape Maclear had a good harbour, the poor soil in the area, and the prevalence of the tsetse fly

Tsetse fly

Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...

, meant a more suitable base had to be found; the mission moved to Bandawe

Bandawe

Bandawe is a community in Malawi on the west shore of Lake Malawi.The Livingstonia mission established a small station at Bandawe in Tonga country in 1878....

, near Chintheche

Chintheche

Chintheche is a settlement in the Nkhata Bay District of the Northern Region of Malawi. It is on the shore of Lake Malawi, and is approximately south of Nkhata Bay. The town is close to the main road between Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota.-History:...

, in 1882.

Wildlife

Cape Maclear and its islands, forests and bay were declared a national park in 1980, creating the Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park is a national park located in Malawi at the southern end of Lake Malawi. It is the only national park in Malawi that was created to protect fish and aquatic habitats. Despite this, Lake Malawi National Park does include a fair amount of land, including several small...

, the first freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 national park in the world. In 1984, the area became a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are several breeds of bird at Cape Maclear, including kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...

s, Dickinson's kestrels, and freckled nightjars. There is a museum about the formation of Lake Malawi and its wildlife at Cape Maclear. UNESCO has recommended wildlife preservation at Cape Maclear.

Tourism

Cape Maclear is a "a leading tourist destination", and is the busiest resort on Lake Malawi. The area is popular with backpackers

Backpacking (travel)

Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. Terms such as independent travel and/or budget travel are often used...

. There are bars, restaurants, lodges and guesthouses in the town. Activities available in Cape Maclear include snorkelling, hiking, boat cruises, kayaking

Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

, and diving. In October 2001, the Malawian government invited investors to fund a $6,000,000 construction of a new 150-room, four-star hotel at Cape Maclear. In June 2003, plans were announced to build an ecolodge on Maleri Island, near Cape Maclear. In February 2005, the Malawian government announced plans to increase ecotourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 at Cape Maclear with new accommodation and facilities.

Transport

In February 2006, the Malawian government announced plans to build a new road from Cape Maclear to Monkey Bay

Monkey Bay

Monkey Bay or Lusumbwe is a town in Mangochi whichi is in the Mangochi District in the Southern Region of Malawi. The town is on the shore of Lake Malawi and is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi. The population of Monkey Bay is estimated to be 14,591 as of 2008. Monkey Bay is from Lilongwe,...

. The current road is a bumpy dirt track, and there is no regular public transport at Cape Maclear.

Healthcare

There is a medical clinic in Cape Maclear; the Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic was established in 2004, and treats diseases such as dysentery

Dysentery

Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

, bilharzia and malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

. There are no diagnostic services or surgery carried out at the clinic. Mags Riordan, who founded the clinic, is the mother of a man who drowned in Lake Malawi, near Cape Maclear in 1999. The clinic is supported by the Billy Malawi Project.

Bilharzia is common at Cape Maclear; the incidence of the disease at Cape Maclear is three times higher than the rest of Lake Malawi.

Sport

Every summer, a multi-day yacht race is held on Lake Malawi. The race starts at Cape Maclear, heads north, and ends at Nkhata Bay

Nkhata Bay

Nkhata Bay or just Nkhata is the capital of the Nkhata Bay District in Malawi. It is on the shore of Lake Malawi , east of Mzuzu, and is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi. The population of Nkhata Bay is estimated to be 14,722 as of 2008. Nkhata Bay is from Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city, and ...

.