Monday, September 6, 2010

Lilongwe Wildlife Center

David had the day off (Yay for Labor Day!) and the kids were in school so Dave, Dakota, and I decided to check out the Lilongwe Wildlife Center. It's a rescue and rehabilitation center for injured or orphaned animals. Check out some of the animals we saw today.

There were yellow baboons, they look brown to me, but hey what do I know?

The vervet monkeys were kinda cute, as long as they didn't get too close. Don't worry Mom most of the animals were in enclosures.

This is a blue monkey, he looks black to me. Maybe I am color blind or something, I thought the yellow baboons were brown.

Can you see anything in the picture? Look close, somewhere in this picture there is a 5 meter long python in this picture. That is a heck of a big snake. I stood just a few feet from his hiding spot and even with the guide trying to point him out it took me several minutes to spot him. I think I will be staying on the paths where I can see what I am stepping on. Eeek!

This is a bush pig. It was the only animal other than birds not in an enclosure. There were two of thes guys, this one is the female, the male was cooler looking but refused to come out of the underbrush so we could get a decent picture of his bumpy face. This girl however decided to follow us down the path for a while. It was a little unnerving to hear her walking along behind us, she is bigger than she looks in this picture.

The guide spotted this hammerkopf at the river overlook. It's a cool looking bird. I wish it had been closer, this was taken at full zoom. We were able to get a good look at it through Dave's binoculars as it was fishing. Love those binocs.

Dakota is hoping to start volunteering at the wildlife center starting later this week. He is really excited to spend the next few months working there. What a great opportunity! I can't wait to take the younger kids there, they will love it!

2 comments:

Donna said...

I looked and looked, but I couldn't see the snake. I think I'm going to have to cancel my plans to come hang with you in Malawi. Yikes! And I thought the cockroaches here were scary.

Connie said...

How wonderful! I love taking kids to see the animals. Cairo zoo was ... not a desirable destination... this wildlife park looks much better!