Salima District
Capital and Hospital
Although no evidence of its past is visible in the present the name “Salima” can drive cold chills down the back of even a novice historian. It was from Salima, during the dark days of the slave trade, that thousands upon thousands of people were sold into slavery and shipped away to places such as India and Arabia. They were never heard from again. At the height of the trade in human life it has been estimated that over 10,000 people were sold each year into slavery from the jumping off points at the notorious lake communities of Karangu, Nkhotokoka, and Salima.
Salima comes in on the population chart at 9th in the nation, with an estimated population of 22,440 in 2005.
Present day Salima is the commercial and trading center for the area near the lake, and the community is a major intersection for two tarmac highways. Highway M-5 runs south from Nkhotokota in the north along the lakeshore, through Salima and then it continues south until it curves inland to the west and links up with highway M-1 in order to continue an uneventful trip through the countryside toward the commercial center of Blantyre. Then the tarmac continues southward and exits the country into Mozambique near the area of Mount Mulunge. The other road, highway M-14 cuts its way through the Dowa Mountains after leaving the capital city of Lilongwe, then it inches its way through the bustling business section of Salima, and then it exits toward Senga Bay and the tourist resorts that dot the beach along a 10-mile stretch filled with guest resorts, fishing villages, and quaint living quarters for the well-to-do facing Lake Malawi.
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