Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Nkhata Bay

n-KAH-tah BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 71 collection-point forms from Nkhata Bay, across 29 genera.

11.6103°S 34.3019°E

Nkhata Bay is one of Lake Malawi's most famous collection points — a deep, sheltered harbour bay on the north-western shore whose flanking rocky headlands have given the hobby dozens of provenance-labelled mbuna and haplochromine lines.

Where it is

Nkhata Bay is on the western shore of Lake Malawi, in its central third (147 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Chindozwa Point 1 mi north · Mundola Point 2.2 mi south · Chizi Point 4.2 mi south-east

Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.

The water

Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Malawi — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.

Temperature75.2–84.2 °F24–29 °C

pH8.2–8.6alkaline

Hardnessmoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppm

Conductivity≈250–260 µS/cmmeasured range

Nearest measured station: Salima (south-east shore) (~238 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

This site

Habitatrockysteep rocky headlands around a deep, sheltered harbour bay

Surface temperature here

Across May–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (864 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

Surface temperature by month near Nkhata Bay — dot = mean, bar = typical range (10th–90th percentile), “–” = too cloudy to measure.

Temperature: ESA Climate Change Initiative, Lakes_cci v3.0 (Asfour et al. 2026; doi:10.5285/a56dba09df8a42ec9fba8b8c7a5e1f69). Chemistry on this page remains the lake's own.

The site

The town sits where the escarpment meets the lake, so the coast shelves steeply: rocky shores drop quickly into deep water, with boulder-strewn headlands framing the bay itself. That combination — rich rocky habitat close to a working port — made Nkhata Bay a natural hub of the ornamental fishery, and the name became one of the lake's best-known trade labels.

Forms exported under the Nkhata Bay name span the classic mbuna genera as well as open-water haplochromines, and many remain reference populations for their species in the hobby. As with every collection point, the population here is kept and bred as its own line — crossing it with forms from other localities is regarded as hybridisation.

Sources

Konings, A. (2016). Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th Edition. Cichlid Press, El Paso.

Each entry below is the population of that species recorded here — the form aquarists keep and breed as a distinct, provenance-labelled line. Crossing forms from different collection points is considered hybridisation in the hobby.