Created in 2009, Kawandama Hills Plantations is a 7,500 hectare essential oil plantation - the largest in Southern Africa - based in the middle of picturesque Viphya Forest Reserve in Northern Malawi.

We have planted large tracts of land, protecting thousands of hectares of indigenous forest and the wildlife that call it home including hyena, small wild cats, wild pigs, honey badgers and incredible endemic bird life. We have established a distillation plant and employ over 175 Malawians. We boast beautiful scenery with rolling hills as far as the eye can see. 
We plant around 600,000 Corymbia citriodora trees annually to produce a fragrant lemon eucalyptus essential oil, which is exported, refined and used in natural insect repellents, cosmetics, perfume and pharmaceutical industries. We also plant hardwood and pine for timber, and other essential oil plants.

To help protect Malawians against COVID19 and other infectious diseases we developed our own brand, Virisafe, in 2020 – a natural, effective and long-lasting sanitising range. We have now launched our own natural mosquito repellent based on PMD rich oil and it has launched in Malawi.

Sustainability matters to us. Our Corymbia citriodora trees are coppiced every four years. They continually regrow for over 30 years and each year we target over 2000 tons of sustainable charcoal annually to help fight our energy and deforestation crises. 

As an exporter, our oils create valuable foreign exchange, which is vitally important for a country like Malawi whose key export tobacco is on drastic decline.