Kasungu is a town in the Kasungu District of the Central Region of Malawi. The population of Kasungu is estimated to be 59,696 as of 2008. Kasungu is approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) north-west of the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, and is 35 kilometres (22 mi) east of Kasungu National Park.[3] The main industry in Kasungu is tobacco-growing. A farm close to Kasungu was the birthplace of the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda. Kasungu is in central Malawi, lying at a height of 1,342 metres (4,403 ft). It has a "warm tropical climate" and a rainy season that lasts from November–December to March–April. The dry season lasts from May to October.The town receives, on average, between 500 millimetres (20 in)–1,200 millimetres (47 in) rainfall each year. Chichewa is the language spoken in Kasungu. Kasungu is served by buses and minibuses that travel to Lilongwe and Mzuzu. In June 2008, Central East Africa Railways announced plans to extend the rail line from Lilongwe to Kasungu. There are guesthouses, bars, restaurants, a supermarket and a petrol station in Kasungu; according to Lonely Planet, there are "no major attractions" in Kasungu. In June 2008, there was a petrol shortage in Kasungu, causing an increase in the sale of black market fuel. In May 2006, a branch of the Opportunity Bank of Malawi opened in Kasungu. Kasungu has a police station.[9] The town is also home to a 179-bed government-funded district hospital. The hospital is often overcrowded, and suffers from a lack of nurses and anti-retroviral drugs.The hospital's 13-bed paediatric department can receive over 100 patients, leaving some patients on the floor. UNICEF-Hamburg has sent over US$6000 to train care-workers in Kasungu. The land in Kasungu lacks nutrients and water, and is mostly "sand veld";[4] the Kasungu area is suffering from depleted forests.[14] A tribal chief stated in 2004 that over 250,000 people in Kasungu own no land.[15] Tobacco is the only cash crop grown in Kasungu,[1] and the area has been described as a "tobacco heartland" by Xinhua News Agency.The opening of Kasungu National Park in 1970 has increased tourism in the area. Due to their poverty, most residents of Kasungu live in houses made of hand-made dung bricks, covered by roofs of straw or corrugated iron.According to AllAfrica, Kasungu is a "child labour hotspot." Kasungu is a "stronghold" of the Malawi Congress Party. The Member of the Malawian Parliament for Kasungu Central is Carrington Jimu. The MP for Kasungu North North West is Rodger Sithole, and the MP for Kasungu North West is Gerald Jere. Kaluluma School in Kasungu has formed a relationship with Greenford High School, Southall, England.[23] A church in Kasungu also formed a relationship with two churches near Peterborough, England in 2001. Parishioners from the two churches have travelled to Kasungu several times and have built a new church and a fish farm. In February 2008, the church group built a maize mill in Kasungu. Over 100 people died in a famine in 2002, according to official estimates; Kasungu was the worst affected area in Malawi. In 2005 a famine occurred in Malawi, affecting 4.2 million Malawians. The efforts to distribute food to the needy were concentrated in Kasungu. During 2004 and 2005, there was an outbreak of cholera, with eight people recorded to have suffered the disease. n June 2003, Kasungu Muslims rioted with police, after five Malawians, suspected of being al-Qaeda operatives, were arrested and taken into United States custody. One demonstrator was treated for "serious gunshot wounds". In May 2005, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika evacuated to a palace in Kasungu after he claimed that the presidential palace in Lilongwe was haunted by "evil spirits". In January 2008, the African Junior Chess Championships were held at the Kamuzu Academy in Kasungu.[30] The academy, which The Nyasa Times describes as "highly regarded" and "Eton in the bush", was founded by the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.