Our Lodge & Team
Welcome to the Makokola Retreat! (Takulandirani ndi manja awiri!)
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to our little piece of paradise. This three-generation, family-owned business has been blessed by the nurturing love, care and commitment that can only be found in a family run business. Over the years The Makokola Retreat, “Club Mak” as it was affectionately called over the years, has seen tremendous growth & transformation to constantly meet the evolving needs & expectations of our guests! It is an exciting time to work here, as plans are ever growing, progressive and inspirational. The Makokola Retreat has over 250 permanent employees and a strong commitment towards our surrounding community & future generations of hoteliers; with various hospitality students passing through our doors on internship to start their career in this exciting industry.
The Makokola Retreat offers you a wide variety of spacious room categories to choose from, all surrounded by lush gardens, along the Southern Lake Malawi shores. The tranquillity sensed by the lake and the protective surrounding green vegetation gives rise to a sense of natural connectedness in the true essence of the name “Retreat.” The integration of local traditions and culture can be seen in the art, crafts, and design of the Retreat, reflecting as well as defining its setting. We pride ourselves in delivering an ethical, natural, local experience to charm your stay.
We strive to continuously further and refine our services, to create more mesmerizing, individualized experiences. Combined with our social and environmental dedications and enthusiasm to preserving local traditions, we wish to generate for you an authentically Malawian experience.
We provide a memorable stay for you. As a family run hotel, we endeavour to provide high quality personal service of a bygone era to make you feel comfortable at your new, “home away from home”. Let us look after you and cater to your passions and preferences.
Thank you very much for choosing the Makokola Retreat (Zikomo Kwambiri)!
The Makokola Team
Conservation & Community
Our commitment and dedication to conservation and the community lies deep within the history of the property. Since establishing a tourism business here many years ago, our family goal has always been to make the local communities the major contributors and stakeholders of The Retreat. Over the years, we have strengthened our long term commitment to the community. We have witnessed and proudly enjoyed the results. We have witnessed and proudly enjoyed the results as a more than 300 families find sustainability from the Retreat’s activities.
When building The Makokola Retreat we believed that rather than bringing in outside contractors with no benefit to the local community, we trained people in the local community. Our grass thatch that is used for the majority of our hotel buildings & rooms’ roofs are sourced from local business women, who we established in their own business to supply us.
While designing the style we wanted for the Retreat, we trained some local villagers to create what we were looking for. We soon realized they were full of inspiration for different projects. We helped create a ladies embroidery group and fabric painting team. We encouraged smaller groups to work on wood crafts, woven items, and recycled glass artwork, amongst other little projects which provide employment for the locals. Many of the furnishings were handmade by the local community, and as you look around The Makokola Retreat, many of the things you will admire will have been made by small communities from across Malawi. Another important contribution is the Retreat's active support to the nearby Koche Clinic, where many of our members of staff and their families are assisted and treated in different ways.
We have chosen to put great effort in growing our own fresh produce. With this practice, we have transmitted these techniques to locals who are now able to supply us with sustainable goods.
Gardening is an important task at the Retreat, and we follow environmentally friendly schemes. All the water used to maintain our beautiful gardens is taken from the lake and eventually given back to the lake. These gardens provide the habitat of many species of birds, squirrels and monkeys. Our use of environmentally friendly products is a must for their conservation.
