CONNECTING WITH URBAN NATURE: COMMUNITY DAYS AT LILONGWE WILDLIFE CENTRE
Recent free community events at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre brought people together to celebrate and protect biodiversity, and explore all that the forest has to offer.
Open Day
The theme for this year’s World Environment Day was Ending Plastic Pollution and we marked it with our annual Clean-Up and Open Day – a chance to explore Lilongwe Wildlife Centre’s sculpture trail, boardwalk, bird hide, and forest trails for free while joining a massive clean-up effort along the Lingadzi River.
Each year, the rains carry large amounts of waste – mostly plastic – onto the riverbanks. Volunteers collected over 50 bags of rubbish, a stark reminder of the ongoing challenges around waste management in the city.
BioBlitz
Thirty-two keen-eyed nature lovers of all ages joined us for our first BioBlitz of the year – a full day of species spotting, animal trivia, and data collection.
Equipped with species ID sheets, trail maps, and the EpiCollect5 app, participants helped us build a real-time snapshot of wildlife – especially mammals – calling the forest and river home. They also competed by answering scavenger hunt questions along the way.
The BioBlitz is a great chance to explore the forest while making a real contribution to our ongoing biodiversity research – 105 animal observations were recorded over the first event! So if you fancy being a scientist for the day, join us for our next BioBlitz on 16 October – family-friendly, free entry, everyone welcome!
Community engagement
These events are part of our broader commitment to community-led conservation. Alongside them, we hosted two community engagement workshops, bringing together local leaders – from religious and youth leaders to community development committees and parent-teacher associations from the areas that surround Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. The goal: to encourage collective responsibility and strengthen grassroots involvement in environmental stewardship.
