Lake Malawi National Park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, being of "global importance for biodiversity conservation due particularly to its fish diversity."

Other attributes of the park include the outstanding natural beauty of the area, with its craggy landscape contrasting with the clear waters of the lake.

The park includes most of the Nankumbu Peninsula, a mountainous headland that projects northwards into the lake terminating in Cape Maclear, the surrounding areas of water (aquatic zone of the property extends for just 100 meters (330 feet) from the lake shore and covers just 0.02% of the lake’s total area), Mwenya Hills, Nkhudzi Hills, Nkhudzi Spit, and 13 islands: Otter, Domwe, Thumbi West, Mumbo, Zimbabwe, Thumbi East, Mpanda, Boadzulu, Chinyankhwazi Rock, Chinyamwezi Rock, Nankoma, Maleri, and Nakantenga.

[6] The park is also home to mammals including chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, hippopotamuses, leopards, common duikers, bushbucks, greater kudus, and klipspringers.

[7] Dr. David Livingstone was the first European to see Lake Nyassa, as it was then called, in 1859, and by 1875 the Scottish Presbyterian Church had set up a mission on Cape Maclear.