Martin Schaer

The Republic of Malawi lies in South East Africa and borders onto Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. The country is mainly famous for two things: the beautiful and diverse nature and the hospitality of the people. The greatest wealth of this small country is Lake Malawi which spreads from the far North East of the country deep down to the South.
The former British protectorate got independent in 1964. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. A majority of the 12 million inhabitants live on less than one US$ a day. The country suffers from the high death rate from AIDS and long droughts. According to UNICEF, the average life expectancy has dropped from 45 to 39 years since 1995. 25% of men and 50% of women are illiterate.