About the Project
Lilongwe Wildlife Centre is an award-winning project,
reputed by PASA as one of Africa’s best sanctuaries, and houses almost 200
rescued wild animals, including carnivores, primates, reptiles and antelopes. Our animal releases are highly acclaimed and we can boast some of the world’s best success rates. This is due to the expertise and effort that goes into the releases, and volunteers are crucial to the process, helping with rehabilitation, observations, integrations and the final release and subsequent monitoring. The goal is to release the animals back into the wild, where they belong, for every case possible so it can be an incredibly rewarding experience to see their progress and know that you have played a vital part in their journey back to the wild.
What to expect
Alongside the animal carers you can get involved with various aspects of
animal care. Whilst we operate
a strict hands-off policy, orphans in particular do
need special attention and round the clock care to ensure that they have the best possible chance of
rehabilitation, so the chances are you’ll be stepping in with surrogacy work and
providing all aspects of care until they enter the next phase of our
rehabilitation programme.
By volunteering your time, we hope that you will be happy to get stuck in with a range of tasks. Work will be very much dependent on what animals we have at the sanctuary at the time but we try our best to mix up the program for you so you get variation in your work. The tasks include feeding the animals, observing their behaviour, checking, maintaining and enriching the enclosures, assist in health checks and many more.
Qualified vets and vet nurses are an asset to our volunteer
programme, so volunteers who are skilled in that area are always warmly welcome as well. We deal with regular intakes, health checks and routine diagnosics,
as well as wildlife emergencies. Though we cannot guarantee veterinary work
every day, our veterinarian runs a busy on-site clinic and any experienced help
is greatly welcomed. We also offer a limited amount of vet externship
placements for students in vet school.
Responsible Tourism
Lilongwe Wildlife Centre is located right in the heart of the capital city within a beautiful wildlife reserve, and we aim to offer the tens of thousands who visit us each year an enjoyable outing, at the same time inspiring a passion for wildlife and a desire to protect it. We have won awards for our commitments to responsible tourism, an ethos which we have adopted throughout our operations. Investment into our visitor facilities – such as the café, gift shop, amphitheatre, playground, gardens and walking trails – have all helped to drive visitation, and all of the revenue generated as a result goes back into feeding and caring for the rescued animals at the sanctuary. We also operate a tiered entry fee scheme so that those on a lower income can visit us – the majority of Malawians can’t afford to visit wildlife in their own national parks.
What’s more, the existence of such a visible and popular tourist attraction within prime urban development territory has undoubtedly contributed to the protection of this beautiful 180 hectare wildlife reserve, one of the last examples of acacia combretum woodland in the region and itself an important area of urban biodiversity that is home to abundant wildlife.
