Cultural & Museum Centre Karonga, Archaeological museum in Karonga, Malawi

The Cultural and Museum Centre in Karonga is an archaeological museum displaying fossils, stone tools, and artifacts from northern Malawi. Collections are arranged chronologically to show how humans settled the region and how nature shaped its environment over vast periods of time.

Local residents Oliver Mwenifumbo, Lawrence Mwamlima and Archibald Mwakasungula pushed for the centre together with palaeoanthropologist Friedemann Schrenk, who had worked in the Karonga district since the 1980s and found the 2.5-million-year-old hominid jaw UR 501 at Uraha in 1991. Construction began in 2000; the buildings were handed over in April 2004 and President Bingu wa Mutharika opened the centre on 10 November 2004 before 400 invited guests and 4,000 other visitors.

The centre's cultural exhibition was assembled with community participation, and local traditional and community leaders were asked to help gather the objects shown. The Nyakyusa (also called Ngonde), the region's main ethnic group, had their history recorded through cultural and historical research before the opening, since it had until then been passed down orally. Local theatre groups also performed plays on evolution, geology and cultural history across nearly every settlement of Karonga District.

The centre stands in Karonga town on the western shore of Lake Malawi, with two slanted buildings whose curved roofs follow the shape of the Malawisaurus bones. The cultural activity area, still under construction in the sources, hosts drama, dance, music and choir events. The roof was damaged by heat cracks and rain in 2014, so check current opening times locally before travelling.

A large fossil of an extinct reptile is the centerpiece of the collection and draws many visitors to the museum. This skeleton comes from dig sites in the nearby region and shows the prehistoric animals that once lived in the area.