We are a family run & OWNED business  

Viphya Plantation was first set up and planted by the British during colonial times and then maintained by the life-president at the time, Dr Hastings Banda - Malawi’s first President after independence from the British. Pine was planted to produce paper pulp as well as some Eucalypts, but the paper pulp project was abandoned after there were serious environmental concerns so it was grown for timber instead. Much of the pine is over-mature and has now been largely harvested. There are only a few key commercial players left in the whole Viphya area.

Viphya was one of the largest man-made forests in Southern Africa and has a considerable number of indigenous and foreign species planted in it. There are many Eucalypts planted in Vipya and across Malawi to the extent that they are ‘naturalised’. The species is an excellent source of timber and fuel in a country where the large majority of the population rely on charcoal and firewood for their household energy needs.

KHP began planting Corymbia citriodora in December 2009 and have nearly 3000 hectares currently planted. We now have around 7 million trees added to the ground of Viphya. The plantation has approximately 3500Ha of natural indigenous forest that we conserve and protect, and the plantation is next to the beautiful Perekezi Forest Reserve.

We are a fully sustainable model- we prune the leaves of trees annually to produce the essential oil and then coppice (cut) the trunks in the field on a four-year cycle to make sustainable charcoal. The trees continually grow back throughout a 30+ year lifespan, producing more leaves and oil as they mature. All parts of the trees have a use and we are proud that humanity and nature are working so symbiotically together.

Our distillation plant has been operational since 2010. High pressure steam is pushed through the pots filled with leaves and twigs, which extracts the essential oils. The oil-water mixture evaporates into the condenser, cools down, and separates into oil and water. We package the oil and the water makes a hydrosol that we reuse.

Kawandama Hills exports tens of tons of oil annually. Quality is of the upmost importance to us and our oil has a citronellal content of >80% and a clean refreshing scent. This is what makes KHP stand out above the rest. 

As a Malawian company, we are members of the Malawi Chambers of Commerce & Industry (MCCCI), Malawi Investment Trade Centre (MITC), Buy Malawi and other key government organisations. Government in turn has supported Kawandama Hills by granting us the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) status that gives us numerable incentives and tax relief, and the Public Procurement Certification that allows us to apply for government tenders. These excellent relationships with the Department of Forestry and government Ministries are crucial to our success.