Ailsa Maltby, 18, Scotland – September 2014

Malawi, ‘The warm heart of Africa’, this is definitely one way to describe this fantastic country!
I volunteered at the Lilongwe Wildlife centre in my gap year between school and going to university to study Veterinary Medicine. I really wanted to get into a project that i felt was really beneficial to the animals as well as giving me an experience to remember…. The LWC definitely ticked all of these boxes.
Whilst I was out there I got involved with all aspects of work at the centre but my favourite was the orphan care for both a baby baboon and serval. In this work you felt like you were really making a difference and the dream of them one day living a natural life again was becoming more of a reality. This certainly helped to make the 6am bottle feeds bearable!
Malawi its self is an amazing place. The local craft market is a must-see experience and a day visit to Lake Malawi is really breath taking. The people there could not have been kinder either.
Although I was younger than some of the other volunteers, I really felt like part of the team. I would highly recommend spending some time volunteering at the LWC. I only spent 3 weeks out there but I would go back out in a heartbeat!