This study analyses land use and cover changes in the Likangala River catchment of Lake Chilwa, Malawi, an endorheic tropical African lake. It also examines how land use-related physico-chemical and hydrological parameters in two affluent rivers of the lake affect the migratory and reproductive behaviour of Barbus paludinosus and B. trimaculatus, which are migratory, ecologically and economically important fish species.