What visitors say about us

"My son and I spent 5 weeks backpacking on local transport, discovering my birthplace, meeting people in their everyday circumstances and trying to get off the tourist trail as much as possible. Arriving at Njobvu on the back of bicycles took us further off the tarmac and into the experience of rural life than we'd ever dreamed and the welcome we received was the warmest. Thanks to everyone who looked after us, showed us around, taught us so much, shared what they had and gave us a good time to treasure. We salute your enterprise and wish you well!"
Sarah & Richard, Yorkshire, UK

"We stayed in the traditional village, it was an experience to shower with a few liters of water. The people are very friendly and I like the cooperation with the school for traditional dancing. If you want to experience pure malawian life, visit it!"
Be van der Weide, The Netherlands

"I am just emailing to say we both had an amazing time and would love to come and visit you again."
Trisha & Mary, UK

"We had a wonderful warm welcome and for 24 hours we felt part of a Malawian village rather than just tourists looking in from outside. It is great to see the improvements to the village and school flowing from the project.
We were constantly surrounded by hordes of smiling children desperate to have their photo taken and their excitement when our son produced a tennis ball was humbling. Great to see some real homes and learn more about daily life."
Tim, Lynda, Catherine and Thomas, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

This mail is just to tell you that we've been in Njobvu this August and it was a great experience!! The place is very peaceful and people in the village very courious… We've been there for only 1 night, but it has been maybe the best night in our trip!!!
Cristiano & Raffaella, Italy

Thank you so much for giving us wonderful memories of our day and night with you at Njobvu, it was one of the highlights of our three weeks in Malawi and we wish we could have stayed longer! We had very little idea what to expect and some of the younger members of our group were a little nervous about our visit.  However, you made us all feel so welcome any fears were quickly dispelled and the whole family loved the experience and are still talking about the friends we made and the things we saw and did at the village.
Nicky, Glenn, Charlotte, Lockie & Jack Royall, Australia

Njobvu Village is a wonderful project which helps a small community in Malawi and one which you can really take part in daily life, without just giving to charity. We left with a deep respect for this small community who are working incredibly hard to help themselves. Thanks very much for having us to stay, it was a most enjoyable experience.
Picolien-Jane & Ian, South Africa

I highly recommend Njobvu Village! It's a lovely place to overnight. I felt very lucky that I was there during the initiation time, when young boys and girls returned from their "training" (still don't know all that entails) in the country and the full collection of villages from the Ulongwe turnoff almost to Mvuu Camp was celebrating, singing, dancing, drinking. Good chance to see some rural life.
Nancy Chuang, New York, USA

I visited Njobvu Village last week and was amazed by the wonderful work you are doing and the people I met. Thank you so much for giving me such an important insight into local Malawian culture. The people I met there were so warm-hearted and open to the questions and curiosity of a visitor from London! I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and it has left a lasting memory.
Elaine, London, UK

I just came back from Malawi. It has been an amazing trip. We went to Njobvu Village and that was one of the best things of the trip. I love that place. We played with the children a lot, singing, dancing... It is a beautiful project.
Victoria, Spain

This village is not a set up - it is an authentic way of living and being in Malawi. My friends and I had a fantastic time. The food and entertainment is genuinely a pleasure. You are encouraged to participate in village life and to meet and engage with everybody who lives there. It is no frills, real life African living: the toilet is a hole in the ground in a little hut, the shower is a cup in a bucket of water warmed by the sun, there is just a bed on the floor in the hut; there is no sign of the trappings of Western living. You wake up to a breakfast prepared by the local people, goats and chickens run freely all around, exotic birds pass overhead, people stop and take time to talk to you - I long to return, it is beautiful!
Alice, Liverpool, UK

I visited Njobvu Village in July this year (2007). Thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of Enoch and all the villagers. It made a perfect base to visit Liwonde National Park from and I had the best Saturday night in ages playing clapping games and okey cokey with the children. Would thoroughly recommend a visit.
Jenny, UK

In July (2007) we spent three nights at Njobvu and enjoyed it very much. We were far away from the western life-style. No hurry, no radio or TV, everything was very basic. An excellent place to leave everything behind, except your senses. You see Malawi as it is, you hear the sounds, smell the smoking fires, taste the food. In short: you feel a bit like a Malawian ( I think...). Getting up at sunrise, take a real hot "shower" in the open air: a start of a day never to forget! The people in the village are all very friendly and wherever we moved, they gave us the feeling being welcome. The alternative for our TV were the nights at the campfire, exchanging ideas, singing songs and telling riddles. And after that, lying in our bed with a gecko on the wall, we heard the village go to sleep. We only woke up when someone was chasing an elephant from his fields by shouting and batting on a pan. Now we are at home with so many questions, we didn't ask. It could be a good reason to go back..
Heleen & Theun de Jong, Medemblik, The Netherlands

Our stay in Njobvu village was just great. The job they are doing there is so interesting for everybody. The local kids having the opportunity to meet foreign people, speak English and show us their way of life. And for us, trying to make them understand a few things about our country… My dad even played guitar with the band, and showed the kids how to juggle with small balls. Great time!
Aline Mandrilly, France

"Without question, the most incredible experience of my trip to Malawi was when I spent a day and night in the village of Njobvu. In this 'real live' African village, a guide shows day and overnight visitors around the village, introducing them to the traditional healer and various other villagers who demonstrate their crafts and skills, showing them round a typical home, and arranging for children and young people to sing, dance and chat to them. I couldn't over-recommend a trip to the village if you are visiting Malawi. I was very reluctant to leave. I had been made to feel so welcome, this mzungu (white person) dipping into their lives, and it was a world that was, somehow, timelessly remote from everything else in my life, yet very appealing.
Read my complete story about Njobvu and Malawi in my travelblog ."
Elizabeth Weir, UK

A journalist of a Dutch daily newspaper (Het Parool) visited Malawi and wrote a wonderfull article about his trip. He also visited Njobvu Cultural Village. Download his article here (in Dutch) and discover what he wrote about Njobvu Cultural Village.

"A boat and bicycle taxi's brought us from one world into another: from the luxurious, spacious hut in Mvuu Camp at Liwonde National Park to the small traditional mud brick hut in Njobvu Village. Our guide Gift, his friends and a lot of children gave us a warm welcome to the African villages between the Shire-river and the trading post of Ulongwe. It was the beginning of two both impressive and pleasant days in which we met a lot of friendly villagers. The traditional healer told us about his work, three women tought us how to grind and cook nsima (and served us an excellent traditional dinner), we were invited into several mud brick houses, wandered through the fields where we gained a lot of new agricultural knowledge and Gift answered all our questions about village life. We bathed in the 'bushshower'. Unfortunately a young woman had died in the days before our arrival, so we experienced how the people were mourning. Because, off course, we didn't want to disturb the intimate ceremonies, we went to another village where four guys smashed fine reggae out of their self-made instruments. After having played soccer, barefooted off course, and after hours of story-telling by the 'african television' (campfire), we went to bed in our mud brick hut and slept fine. Go there!"
Nancy Zieltjens & Paul Vugts, The Netherlands

"We had a great time in the village!"
Klaas Jan & Bianca, The Netherlands

"We stayed at Njobvu Village and had a great time. The villagers are very welcoming and white folk ('Azungu') are so rare that you are treated as royalty. You have to be prepared to 'rough it', sleeping in a mud hut, eating traditional food etc. No 'home comforts' here, but instead you'll have a much better appreciation of real Malawian life and realise what really matters in life. Highly recommended!"
Mick & Sue, UK

"From Liwonde town we travelled by minibus to Ulongwe, from where we took a bicycle taxi towards Njobvu Village. After a tremendous journey of an hour through several Malawian villages, all the way waving and smiling to the villagers, we finally arrived in Njobvu Village. Here we got a warm welcome, and we were introduced to our home for the night: a traditional mud brick hut. We made an inspiring tour exchanging cultures, amongst others with the village headman, the traditional doctor, the shop owner and several families. At the bar we enjoyed the dancing kids and the homebrewed beer. At the school we met the voluntary head teacher, but this day the school kids had a day off. And at the fields encountering Liwonde NP we saw the footprints of elephants paying nocturnal visits. Back at the lodge we were entertained with traditional dances. All the kids from the surrounding villages came to enjoy the performance and especially take a look at the Azungu (white-noses). After a delicious meal consisting of nsima (maize porridge) with spinach, peanut sauce, beans and tomatoes, we spent the evening singing with kids at a camp fire, and ended up in the mud brick hut; dreaming Malawian dreams."
Ruurd & Cindy, The Hague, The Netherlands