Nkhotakota Hot Springs (Malawi)

Nkhotakota Hot Springs in the district of the same name in central Malawi are sodium-mineral thermal springs on the western shore of Lake Malawi, associated with the Rift Valley geology that underlies one of the world's largest and most biologically diverse freshwater lakes. The springs emerge in a landscape shaped by the ancient lake terrace system of Lake Malawi, whose water level has fluctuated dramatically over geological time, and are used by local communities for therapeutic bathing consistent with traditional East African mineral water healing practices. Nkhotakota town itself, one of Malawi's oldest settlements, was historically the largest slave market in central Africa during the 19th-century Arab trade era, giving this lakeside district a historically complex character that enriches visits to its natural thermal springs.