Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary

We had the chance to take a Saturday a few weeks back and head to the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and Wildlife Sanctuary.  The Centre specializes in rehabbing injured animals before returning them to the wild, but also has some other animals there that spent prior lives in the circus or zoos.  Those animals don't have the ability or instincts to be returned to the wild.  We first spent some time hiking some trails in the sanctuary on our own, and then went on a guided tour through the actual centre where they rehab animals.

 I can safely say that we did not see a crocodile.  If we would have, Kate would have had to drag me away as I would have clearly needed a picture for the blog. As a matter of fact, we didn't see much wildlife at all when we hiked on our own.  It really seemed like a hike in the woods you could have taken in Kentucky, or Iowa, or anyplace, really.  You could have almost convinced me we were not in Malawi at all. We kept our eyes open, and were really jumpy at first (expecting a leopard...or something...and not we, just me), but soon just enjoyed the view and the exercise.

Once we got to the guided portion through the centre, we saw some vervit monkeys (on the left with a baby hanging on on the monkey on the far right as well as chilling on the right).  Vervits are native to Malawi, so there were some inside caged areas that were rescues, as well as some roaming all over the place.

We also saw some olive baboons that were gorgeous up close.  At first it seems sad to see them "behind the fence," but when you hear the story of the baboons, for instance, being brought here from a circus in Spain, it's easy to see that their lives are much better now.  Their tales had been clipped when they were used as performers, so they can't be released back in the wild.  Luckily, there were 12-15 of them, so lots of company!


This guy on the left was quite striking, and I certainly don't think the picture did a good job of showing just how big he really was.The centre had a one-eyed lion that had come from a zoo in Romania, as well as some crocs and some hyenas as well.  Unfortunately, they didn't cooperate all that much so no pics!  After we got done walking through the centre, we stopped at the cafe near the entrance for a quick drink.  Charming atmosphere, with some of the free roaming vervits feeling quite comfortable making their way up to tables to look for leftovers.

Days turn into weeks, the slow, warm pace of Malawi soaks into your bones, and every day is another chance to see and explore more.  The rainy season officially ended here in the last month or so, but we have been lucky to get a few storms here and there.  I'm told they don't have the same bite as the storms in December and January, and they are more and more infrequent.  I took a video of one the other day, and it seems like it was much more fierce as I was filming; perhaps just something else not able to be 100% translated through picture or film. Still nice! This time of year, the temp is regularly in the low to mid '80s, so pretty tough to complain.  The sun shines pretty much every day, but this close to the equator, watch out! Very intense!

And as always, Lucy is in charge.  I try not to stray to her side of the bed, it's very important she get her rest.  Life is good, family and friends are missed, and I am beginning to focus on what will fill my days more regularly.  Last week I had the chance to take part in an advocacy training here in Lilongwe for both prosecutors and defenders, so maybe next time I'll share more about that.  SPOILER ALERT...I managed to make myself look like a fool in front of the Irish Ambassador to Malawi!  Until next time.