Its the end of my first proper day here. This is a crazy place – in a good way, or anyway in a way that I like! LWC is a sort of park on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Part of the park is wild (I hoe to have a walk there tomorrow) and part is a sanctuary for orphaned and injured wild animals which is where I am a volunteer. this part is also open to the public and has nice visitor facilities and educational services.

The sanctuary is run by a team of intensely dedicated young women and a staff of Africans who probably think they are totally nuts but admire them nonetheless ( my interpretation). The volunteers are also a mixed bunch – an animal lover from Belgium, a clinical psychology PhD student from Leeds and her boyfriend, an American who has been helping poacher control in South Africa for the last 3 months – and me. We and the staff live in a complex of huts in the sanctuary alongside the orphan clinic , in no great luxury. The animals have it good here. Its mostly monkeys, a few small antelopes, a Python, a couple of lions and a few other odds and ends.
Orphans and new arrivals live in small runs near the clinic; as soon as possible they move out in large and spacious enclosures in the park. Some of the animals are in no shape to return to the wild , but many of them, especially monkeys are being prepared for release. Much care and attention is given to individual needs, diets and behavioural aspects.

There are so many routines and procedures that I doubt I will mange to learn how to do anything here.Luckily a new arrival is a Chameleon with some eyesight problems and I volunteered to be his special friend ( I have always had a thing for Chameleons). So I have a lighter load of other duties while I build a special Chameleon enclosure! Lucky me. I forgot to take a picture of him (he has been named Derek!) but I got one of this nice Skink just outside my hut.
I think the people here are the really interesting story – but I’m a bit shy about writing them up, maybe I need to get to know them a bit better first.