Lake Malawi is nearly 600 kilometres long and up to 75 kilometres wide. If you drove along it at motorway speed it would take about six hours just to go from one end to the other! It sits in a great crack in the Earth called the East African Rift, which formed millions of years ago as tectonic plates slowly pulled apart.
The most famous thing about the lake is its fish. More than 1,000 species of bright cichlid fish live only here and nowhere else on Earth. They come in dazzling blues, reds, yellows and oranges — so vivid that many cichlids end up in fish tanks in bedrooms and classrooms around the world. Scientists are still discovering new species.
People living along the shore have fished the lake for thousands of years. Wooden dugout canoes and hand-woven nets are still used today, and families gather in the evenings to cook fresh fish over open fires on the beach. A much-loved fish called chambo is caught here and is one of Malawi's national foods.
The lake is also a giant playground. Children swim in the shallow, warm bays, and visitors come from all over the world to snorkel and watch the cichlids darting about in the clear water. Every year the Lake of Stars music festival takes place right on its shores, with bands playing as the sun sets over the water.