Wildlife and Nature Centers

Blue Monkey native to Malawi

One eyed Romanian Lioness

River in the sanctuary

February 5 2011
Wildlife Park and Nature Center
I was supposed to go on a cultural adventure on Sat. but it got cancelled because a large group from South Africa cancelled and the organizer needed a certain number of people to make it happen. I decided I needed to get out. Otherwise I stay home and eat cookies – I’ve already gained some weight from this bad habit. I went down to the Lilongwe Nature Center where I was told there were animals who were not in cages and that you could walk through the forest and look for them. I got there around nine so it was still relatively cool. The Lilongwe Nature Center and the Lilongwe Wildlife center, where the animals are caged, are both part of the same 160 hectare (365.4 acres) reserve in the middle of the city. Both take animals that need rehabilitation or that can no longer live in the wild. The forest in both parts of the reserve is fairly pristine and there are two different rivers running through each center but both dump into the Lilongwe River in the center of town. As I set out with my guide we entered a thick forest with tall acacia trees and I was confronted with the largest Sisal plant I have ever seen, the center spike was at least 10ft high and the spread of the plant about 12 feet in diameter. The guide said this plant was not particularly large! We walked down the forest path towards the river and came across a beautiful blue violet and a large millipede that was chewing on a red fruit that looked something like a cherry (the guide did not know the name of the fruit). Once at the bank of the high muddy brown river we saw a large crocodile basking in the sun. He turned out to be the only animal we saw although the guide assured me there were civets, hyena, duikers, and impala in the park. (I have been told that there a hyenas on Capitol Hill at night scavenging – somehow this seems fitting). We heard a lot of birds including doves and weaver birds who have a beautiful song. The weaver bird is bright yellow but you seldom see more than a flash of yellow as they flit by. As we walked we came upon an enormous granite rock about the size of a foot ball field. The rock was crumbly and fairly flat on top. The guide said he didn’t know where it came from – maybe a volcano- but I rather doubt that. As we headed back to the office we came to a small house where I met three nice young men who were attached to the center as part of their ecology or tourism studies at Mzuzu University. They had been to all the National Parks and they gave me some very helpful information about the parks. One of them was inspecting hotels and lodges for the tourism ministry and he told me about a some nice places to stay.
When I left the Nature Center it was still early so I walked down to the Wildlife Center where I was given a tour. All of the animals here have been rescued from individuals or zoos. Although they are “caged” they are in very large 3-4 acre enclosures that have natural habitat. They do not have many animals. There are two types of baboon, the olive monkey from northeast Africa, the beautiful blue monkey (see photo) native to Malawi, and a large python that is fed one chicken a month. All of these animals were rescued from private owners. The only lion is a rather pitiful one eyed lioness rescued from a zoo in Romania. She lost her eye to an infection and she also had Ricketts but what worried the guide most was that she had been living in a very cold cage. The Center is also home to a leopard whose rear knee cap was destroyed by a cable trap set by poachers in one of the national parks. Although he seems able to leap up onto his platform he can’t live in the wild anymore. He sleeps all day on the platform coming down at 3PM when he and the other animals are fed.
I felt sad. Although Malawi is home to many marvelous and wonderful animals, the animals in this reserve are likely the only ones most Malawians will see. The national parks are far away and are costly to visit although the entry fee is only $1.00 (150Kw/day for Malawians the tours, food and lodging are beyond the means of most people.