DISTRICTS - CENTRAL - NKHOTAKOTA

Nkhotakota is a town of considerable historical note. For much of the 19th century, it was the busiest slave-trading centre on Lake Malawi, presided over by the legendary Jumbe dynasty, and it is still sometimes described as the largest traditional market village in sub-equatorial Africa, a somewhat mysterious label, as the modern market, though well stocked, is thankfully quite unexceptional. An eponymous district capital Nkhotakota today supports a population of 35,000, making it the ninth largest town and second largest port in Malawi.

It is also an important transport hub, serviced by the MV Ilala and situated at the strategic intersection of the lakeshore M5 and the M18 to Lilongwe and Kasungu.

Like many other settlements in Malawi, Nkhotakota is a town of two halves. The older quarter, set close to the lakeshore, is studded with relicts of its infamous past, and it retains a strong and ancient Islamic presence, despite housing the old mission church. The main commercial centre of Nkhotakota, which straddles the M5 about 1km further inland, is the site of several lodges, banks and supermarkets, as well as the post office, new market and internet facilities. A tree shaded avenue, planted in the slacing era, connects the m5 to the old quarter, from where a rougher dirt road leads for 1km to the ferry jetty used by the MV Ilala.

Nkhotakota itself is probably less often visited by travellers than the string of excellent resorts that runs along the lakeshore starting about 10km further south. The town also lends its name to Nkhotakota Wildlife reserve, a little known tract of mountainous wilderness that looks set to be discovered by tourists after two new upmarket lodges open there in 2010.
History
The slave trade at Nkhotakota – then as Kota Kota – was established in the 1840s by Jumbe Salim bin Abdullah, a Zanzibar trader of mixed Arab and African Descent. Jumbe settled at Nkhotakota and went on to found an Islamic dynasty that ruled the area for several generations (indeed, one of his descendants still served as the local chief at the end of world Ward II). And by the 1850s, Nkhotakota had become the main terminus from which as many as 20,000 slaves annually were shipped across the lake from present-day Malawi to the Indian Ocean port of Kilwa Kivinje (Tanzania).
In 1861, Livingstone became possibly the first European to reach Nkhotakota, and he described the area as ‘abode of lawlessness and bloodshed…literally strewed with human bones and putrid bodies’. Livingstone returned to Nkhotakota in September 1863, hoping to convince the incumbent Jumbe ruler to abandon the trade in slaves. Though the two men engaged in a lengthy meeting, Livingstone’s efforts were in vain, and slave trade out of Nkhotakota continued into the 1890s, when Commissioner Harry Johnston persuaded the ageing Jumbe to sign a treaty in exchange for British protection.
More about the history of Malawi
What to see in Nkhotakota
Nkhotakota Game Reserve
Getting there and away

Nkhotakota lies the surfaced and well-maintained M5 about 200km south of Nkhata bay and 110km north of Salima. It is connected to Kasungu, 125km to the west, by the recently surfaced M18, which also forms part of the most direct route to Lilongwe 200km run along the M7 via Ntchisi, of which only the 30km stretch immediately north of Ntchisi is unsurfaced. There is plenty of public transport in all directions: all buses between Nkhata Bay and Salima, stop at Nkhotakota, and there are regular minibuses to Chintheche, Salima, Kasungu and Ntchisi (where you can change for Lilongwe). Nkhotakota is the last port of call for northbound lake steamers before they cross to Likoma Island.

Briggs, P. (2010). Nkhotakota. In: Briggs, P Malawi. 5th ed. Connecticut: Bradt. p233-235.