It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in Lilongwe, Malawi when Bern asked me if I was interested in birds. His daughter had told him about a bird sanctuary nearby so he thought I might like to see it. Since I had taken him to some activities when he was in Washington, I think he felt a need to show me around Malawi. While I am not particularly into birds, I thought this might be a good opportunity to take some photos of birds that I would not normally see so I agreed.
I joined Bern and his daughter, and we were off to find this place. It is a fairly new place, according to Bern, but not too far away. Bern’s understanding of “not too far” and mine are apparently quite different. We drove quite some distance, and it seemed that we had gone out into the countryside, but Bern said we were still inside the city. We finally turned off the main road onto a dirt road. However, there still seemed to be a distance to get to the sanctuary. Bern stopped a couple of times to check with people on the road to make sure we were going in the right direction.
We finally found the place, R & L Farms/Game Ranch. There was a large parking lot but not too many cars. As we were going to the entrance, a large group of children were coming out. They had come on an outing to the game ranch.
After we paid, a young man stepped forward to give us a guided tour. While the guide spoke English, most of his commentary was in the local language, but I was able to grasp most of the names of the birds.
In the center of the park was a large area for visitors to enjoy. There was some playground equipment and places for people to sit to have a picnic. I could see that it would be a good place for children to come. In fact their Facebook page mentions different schools that have come for field trips.
The birds were in cages around the side of this large open space. In essence this was a zoo with most of the birds in cages. The cages were not very tall so it didn’t seem like there was a lot of room for the birds. Some of the larger birds were left to roam free as they didn’t seem to fly. That was true of the first birds we saw. These grey crowned cranes had beautiful crests on their heads and were tall with long legs. I had seen pictures of them before. They were really beautiful birds.
Some of the other birds along the way were equally beautiful. There were some guinea hens which had an iridescent blue color to them which was really beautiful. It surprised me to see they had peacocks and peahens in a cage. These birds often wander around the yards of various places such as the Alcazar in Seville, Spain. It seemed that if there was a bird to let wander, it would be them. Sadly they were in a small cage, and they looked like they were not happy to be in there.
Some of the birds were basic birds like pigeons or chickens, but the ones they had were a more unique or unusual breed of the bird.
At the back of the open area were cages with parrots and parakeets. The colors were really beautiful and taking photos up close was really nice. I felt I got my best photos here. It was also here that I noticed that our guide seemed to really care about the birds. There was one parrot where he stuck his hand into the cage, and the bird was holding on to his fingers and pecking at his hand. This didn’t seem to bother the guide. It was nice to see that he had a personal interest in the birds and not just saw it as a job.
We turned back up on the other side and came to a cage with a vulture in it. It stayed in the same location the whole time we were there. While its cage was larger than those of the other birds, I’m sure he still felt cramped unable to soar up into the sky.
The next cage held a number of monkeys. There were quite a few of them. Again our guide showed his interest in the animals as he was rubbing the stomach of one of the monkeys who seemed to enjoy the attention. Nevertheless, I again felt the cage was on the small side for the number of monkeys in it.
We turned back on a road and walked by three emus. These were seemingly walking around in a field with no guards around them. There was a fence along the road, but they could come around the end of it which one did. Again the guide ruffled the feathers on the side of the smallest emu, but we kept our distance from the larger ones.
On the left we came to a large fenced in area. There were two trees in the large courtyard like area. Along with the trees were a large group of turkeys and three mammals on the far side. One of them had curved horns. They seemed to not be bothered by the presence of the other mammals. The smallest of the animals, a deer like animal, came close to where we were so we got to see it better.
We walked out into a field. In the background is a large domed mountain. According to Bern people climb up the mountain. In fact he said he had climbed it. Then we saw three zebras in the field. They were eating cornstalks which were laid out for them. Some old bathtubs provided them with water. These didn’t seem caged, but perhaps there were fences around a broader space that we didn’t see.
At this point our guide asked if we wanted to see snakes and a crocodile. I wasn’t that keen to see them nor was Bern so we skipped that part. We walked back to see the last few birds which were mostly ducks. Here I felt bad because while the ducks had little pools of water, the water did not look clean.
Finished with our tour, we got back in the van and headed for Africa Bible College to drop off Bern’s daughter. On the way the sun began to set. Because of the haze and smoke in the air, the sun turned orange and then just as it hit the horizon turned almost red. It was a beautiful sunset, but sadly it was due to the poor air quality over the city.
I had mixed feelings about visiting the game farm. I definitely enjoyed the opportunity to photograph some of the animals, especially the parrots and the parakeets. However, I didn’t always feel comfortable with the way I felt the animals were being cared for. One can’t always expect to find a well paid and knowledgeable staff in a third world country. I do hope that as the game ranch develops, they also learn how to best care for the animals in their care.
Travel experiences can definitely open one’s eyes to the world in different ways. I hope that you are learning a few things along with me as I find new experiences. Next week I will be sharing about my experiences in some Malawian churches. See you then.