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Lake Malawi offers some of the best freshwater snorkeling and scuba diving in the world. Its year round warm waters make it a great lake to go out and explore. After arriving at Kande Beach Campground we were excited to grab our gear and get into the water.

We have only ever gone scuba diving in salt water on coral reefs in some of the best dive sites in the World. We were not really sure what we would see scuba diving in a freshwater lake or even if it would be worth spending the money.

Luckily, once we were under the water, it was surprising to see all the brightly colored Cichlid fish. The one thing about diving in freshwater, that we won’t soon forget, was the dark green color of the water. We were not expecting that considering the surface of the lake is such a bright blue. As a result, we had medium visibility and a murky haze.

Despite this, we had two beautiful dives with some interesting sites. Here is a collection of our favorite photos from our dives in Lake Malawi. All photos included were created and are owned by Divergent Travelers.

All photos were taken with a GoPro Hero 4+ Sliver and Xshot Pole.

Scuba Diving Lake Malawi In 34 Underwater Photos

Kande Beach Scuba Diving Lake Malawi
Across from Kande beach is this little island on Lake Malawi, where everyone dives. It was a great island to scuba dive around with its House Reef.

 

Scuba Diving Lake Malawi
A member in our group stayed suspended upside down for a few minutes waiting for our dive master. The old drive shaft held the buoy where the dive boats anchor.

 

Lake Malawi Scuba diving
A local fishing boat sitting at the bottom of Lake Malawi.

 

Sunken Boat Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Tip of a sunken wood boat filled with rocks.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Locals use wood Mokoro’s as fishing boats.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Large yellow and white striped fish hiding.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
While Scuba Diving Lake Malawi we Saw 100’s of these Large White Fish Called Lake Malawi Mbuna Cichlids.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Dark rock wall with fish.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Large white and black stripped fish.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Large blue and yellow fish hiding from us in the cracks of the rocks.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Scuba diver following a sandy lake bottom.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Scuba diver looking at all of the little fish swimming around the under water tree.

 

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Underwater Tree Lake Malawi East Africa
Little fish swimming around the underwater tree.

 

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Sunken Jeep Lake Malawi East Africa
Yes, it’s a jeep sitting at the bottom of Lake Malawi.

 

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Sunken Jeep Lake Malawi East Africa
This once family car is now a family car for fish.

 

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Lake Malawi Bottom East Africa
Sandy bottom of Lake Malawi.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
This large fish spawning hole was larger then a scuba diver.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Freshwater snail sitting empty at the bottom of the lake.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
The bottom of Lake Malawi turned from sand to rock.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Bright blue and yellow fish sticking to the sides of the rocks avoiding us.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Air bubble heading up to the surface.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Large blue and black fish with a freshwater snail  under it’s lip.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
You would not think a fresh water lake would have colorful fish like this.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Lina Stock diving around the large rocks.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Fishing net floating in the water just waiting for a fish.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Scuba diver next to a ditched fishing net. Not something I would like to end up in.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Fish swimming around the large green rocks.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Scuba Diver swimming in between large rocks. They were slimy with a green sludge.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Me, David, scuba diving in Lake Malawi.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
Fresh water crab hanging out on a rock.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Fresh water crab hiding under a rock. He was not happy with me poking the Gopro in his face.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Catfish up close and personal. Here you can see how murky the water was.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving
You never know what is hiding in dark places, Large Catfish hiding in the rocks.

 

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Lake Malawi Scuba Diving.
Sunlight shimmering deep below the surface of Lake Malawi.

“The Lake of Stars” is the nickname for Lake Malawi, given by David Livingstone. This name came from the lanterns of the fishermen in Malawi on their boats, that resemble, from a distance, stars in the sky.

Have you ever been freshwater scuba diving?

We camped on Kande Beach with Oasis Overland during our 17 week overland trip through Africa from Cape Town to Cairo.

Plan your own adventure in Africa with Oasis Overland

Travel Insurance: We use for Allianz for travel insurance and have since our first trip to Mexico in 2003. They’ve been there for us on our adventures – and many friends and readers – multiple times over! If you want to book with Allianz Travel Insurance, simply use this link to get their travel insurance!

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Comments

  2. dave sr says

    January 26, 2016 at 9:07 AM

    Great photos Lake Malawi is known for its colorful tropical fish many are mainstays of the current tropical fish business and are bred in Florida

    Reply

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