As of September & October 2019
Entry into Malawi
- 3rd party vehicle insurance – KWH45 000 for 2 months
- Road access fee: USD20
- Carbon Tax: New as of September 2019 – for a 4wd between KWH10 000 to 15 000 depending on engine size
- TIP: KWH 10 000 per month of stay. If you have a Carnet du Passage, this cost is avoided
- Visas: Free for ZA citizens but expensive for others at USD75 per person
- Visa extension: KWH5 000 (for ZA residents, not sure of other nationalities) per month extended, max stay is 90 days. This can be done at various immigration posts around the country and it is not necessary and can be done anytime during your initial visa period as the extra days are added on to initial expiry date. We did ours at Monkey Bay and it was literally a 5 minute process.
General
- Cellphone data: full FICA style registration required so initial registrations takes sometime. Topping up data is best done in major centres as most other Airtel booths only deal in small denomination prepaid vouchers. The simplest method we found was to buy prepaid vouchers at a PEP store.
- ATMs: Standard Bank charges a KWH2500 fee per transaction for foreign cards whereas National Bank does not.
Bilharzia
There are conflicting reports regarding how widespread bilharzia is in the lake but if you are to enjoy Malawi not swimming is almost impossible. It is however very easy to obtain Bilharzia medication which you take 6 weeks after last contact with the lake. All pharmacies in Malawi sell Praziquantel and it is cheap. Dosage is based on your body weight.