Washed away: Villas and houses along the lakeshore are damaged.Photo: Jack McBrams
WWhen orange rays gently kiss the rippling waters of Lake Malawi, this sight usually attracts domestic and international tourists in search of a souvenir photo of their “waking up in an exotic location” vacation. .
But for now, the beach at Sigerege Beach Resort in the town of Salima is deserted except for a few locals. John Banana, an antiques seller who has been doing business here for five years, is usually full of energy, but he wears a melancholy expression as he displays his wares.
“This is terrible,” he said, gesturing to the waves crashing on the shore. “If the water level gets any higher, the sandy beach will disappear.”
At the neighboring Blue Water Lake Resort, manager Don Samaraseka oversees workers stacking stones to protect buildings from waves.
“We've packed about 100 tons of stones along the coast, but we're still battling the waves,” he says.
He says when he started working at the resort in 2014, the lake's water was about 150 meters from its current shoreline.
Along the expanse of the lake as far as the eye can see, sandbags now line the banks, a fragile barrier to the relentless advance of the water. Some resorts try to pump water from their premises.
In the lakeside resort areas of Mangochi, Nkuta Bay and Nkuta Kota, vast stretches of sandy beaches are swallowed up by the lake.
“There is no limit to the force of the water,” said George Jibofe, Nhotakota's disaster management officer.
He said the lake started rising in February and spoke of submerged resorts and flooded homes on the edge of the lake.
“We are still evaluating,” he says. “But the damage is obvious. There are a lot of buildings and structures.”
Malawi's Disaster Management Agency said rising water levels affected 1,500 households in Nhotakota alone, of which 800 were evacuated.
Water levels in Lake Malawi are the highest in more than a decade, rising 52 centimeters from last year, the National Water Resources Authority said.
When the lake rises, people living in an area marked by its beauty must contend with bad weather or watch their fortunes plummet.
However, their fight may prove too weak against nature. As Charles Kalemba of the Disaster Management Agency acknowledges, this disaster for humans is nature taking back control.
This article was first published continent A weekly pan-African newspaper produced in partnership with . email and guardian . Designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp.Download your free copy here