Chamale Museum

If you only visit one thing here, make it the Chamare Museum, beautifully decorated with murals depicting scenes from Malawian history. The first room covers the history of Mua and the Roman Catholic Church in Malawi; the second delves into Chewa, Yao and Ngoni culture, with a depiction of a traditional Ngoni dance; and the third is a total knockout. In the third room you are confronted by the 'tree of the spirits', hung with 280 GuleWamkulu masks, with interpretive panels explaining the Chewa masks' meanings. The three rooms recall the tents of the mission's three founders, while the model baobab in the courtyard refers to the tree they camped under on arrival in 1902. The museum is named after the French missionary Father Champmartin, who arrived in 1908 and taught the locals carpentry. They shortened his name to Chamare.