Phalombe is a town in
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...
. It is the district capital of
Phalombe District.
Location
Phalombe is located about , by road, north-east of
Mulanje
Mulanje, formerly called Mlanje, is a town in the Southern Region of Malawi, close to the border with Mozambique, to the east. It is near the Mulanje Massif.
Location
The town of Mulanje lies along the M-2 highway from Thyolo to the west to t ...
, along the T408 Road.
This is approximately , by road, east of
Blantyre
Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...
, the financial capital of Malawi and the largest city in the country's Southern Region.
Phalombe lies at an average location of above sea level.
The geographical location of Phalombe are 15°48'12.0"S, 35°39'12.0"E (Latitude:-15.803333; Longitude:35.653333).
Overview
It is situated below the Fort Lister Gap between the two larger parts of the Mulanje Massif. Due to this location it is vulnerable for
flash floods
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...
, which can easily occur during the rainy season. The most devastating one in recent history occurred in March 1991, which left Phalombe with a 2-3 meter (7 to 10 feet) high mud layer and killed hundreds of people. On this spot a monument was erected to remember the named and unnamed victims.
Points of interest
, south of the town center, along the Phalombe-Mulanje Road, is a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
mission consisting of a Catholic church and the Holy Family Hospital. The hospital is run by locals in association with the Dutch charity
Memisa and is staffed by Malawian clinical officers as well as Dutch tropical doctors. Holy Family Nursing College is attached to the hospital.
The road from Mulanje to Phalombe is tarmacked, as of May 2019.
Demographics
Weather
Generally, the weather in Phalombe is warm, muggy and cloudy, from November to April and is comfortable, clear and cool from May through October. During the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 59 °F to 86 °F (15 °C to 30 °C) and is rarely below 56 °F (13 °C) or above 92 °F (33 °C).
References
{{Authority control
Southern Region, Malawi
Populated places in Southern Region, Malawi