Lake Malombe

Lake Malombe is a lake in southern Malawi that is fed and drained by the Shire River. It is located in a rift valley that runs northwest from Lake Chilwa to Lake Nyasa, parallel to the Shire Rift Valley. Lake Malombe is a lake located in the southern region of Malawi. It lies around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the considerably bigger Lake Malawi.

The Shire River feeds the lake 12 miles (19 kilometers) below its efflux from Lake Nyasa and drains through that river's departure from Lake Malombe's southern shore.

Malombe has a depth of 6 to 8 feet and a surface area of 162 square miles (420 square kilometers) (2–2.5 m). During the dry season, rice and corn (maize) are farmed along the lake's marshy edges, and commercial fishing is significant economically.

The number of fishermen on the lake has significantly increased recently, which has resulted in a local drop in some fish species, particularly the chambo cichlids, a significant food source throughout Malawi.

Up until the middle of the 19th century, when it began to fill again, the lakebed was dry for many hundred years.