Lilongwe Wildlife is a Sanctuary, not a Zoo.

On my Malawian checklist, I wanted to visit Malawi Lake and Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary; well this is now checked! On my last Sunday in Malawi, we head to Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary: the sanctuary’s mission is to help Malawi’s wild animals in need, fight wildlife crime, and empower the guardians of the wild. Therefore, most of the animals that I will mention are rescued from the wild. Some will go back to the wild; some will end their day in the sanctuary…

The iconic animals of the sanctuary used to be 2 lions, Bella and Simba. Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet them as their health were deteriorating, the sanctuary staff decided, for their best interest, to put them to sleep a few months ago.

We paid for a tour and the guide was quite insightful about the animals. The sanctuary also has a vet clinic but we couldn’t visit because of the animal’s disease. The guide told us that we wouldn’t see many animals as the sanctuary is currently not of full capacity, but we got to see a lot: yellow baboons (taken in as a troop, and not individually; there were 2 troops of yellow baboons at the moment), a 4 meters python (that will stay for the rest of it life), olive baboons (they won’t go back to the wild as they have been too traumatized in circus, and they can’t jump from tree to tree because of their short tail!), 1 sleeping serval cat, blue monkey, a sleeping owl and on our way, a free roaming antelope!

The tour last for about an hour and the place was absolutely lovely! The sanctuary is a place to hang on week-end as going on hike or to hang in the place is free of charge!