Sailing under the state-run Malawi Lake Services as of March–April 2026; we could not confirm any sailing after April 2026 when we checked on 12 June 2026.
The Ilala is the boat that carries the lake's people and cargo: Monkey Bay to Chilumba and back, weekly in each direction, calling at Likoma, Chizumulu and Nkhata Bay, with room for about 365 passengers and 100 tons of freight.
Its recent history is turbulent. On 23 November 2025 the government grounded the 74-year-old vessel as a safety hazard, ended the private operator Mota Engil's contract, and created a state Malawi Lake Services Company to run all ports and vessels (Nyasa Times, 23 November 2025). By March 2026 the Ilala was sailing again under Malawi Lake Services — reporting on a 50% fare increase that month quoted the company's chief executive on the vessel's per-voyage earnings (Face of Malawi, 10 March 2026). It was then withdrawn on 27 March 2026 for an anchor fault, serviced, and reported back in service in April 2026 — that last report comes from the Malawi News Agency, whose article we could only see in search excerpts; the page itself would not load for us.
Even when the Ilala is running, its published times are loose: departures hours late, sometimes a day late, are well documented. Treat any printed time as the start of a wait, not a promise.