What a great day. We visited Kasungu National Park so that Luke could meet Andr-ea (pronounced in a strange, very un-english, manner for some reason) who is a researcher in charge of collecting details of the baboons that have been released from the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre.

She is a quite extraordinary woman – living deep in the heart of the African bush with only Jane, a support researcher, as help (and companionship). At only 24 she is truly inspiring (we presumed she was this age through carefully working out the dates from what she said – we wouldn’t be as rude as to ask a question like that).

The day was long and although it took hours to find the baboons (I had pretty much resigned myself to not seeing them) we eventually found them with only 50 minutes of light left for filming. Part of the problem was the radio mics interfering with Andr-ea’s baboon tracking device.

To ingratiate yourself to the baboons the first thing to do when they approach is to turn your back on them. They then cling hold and groom you. This happened to me several times and was an absolutely amazing experience.

It was a long journey back through the dense forest and potholed roads in the pitch black (as an aside the stars were amazing). We got stuck in a muddy patch at one point, but somehow managed to free the car.

As a final note I have to highlight the remarkable durability of the rest of the crew. Adam amazingly lugged the heavy HD camera around for the seventh long-day in a row, Marc drove us home safely despite being as shattered as the rest of us and Luke kept his incessant talking going (as a method of keeping Marc awake). His attempt to sing a Paul Simon song will haunt me for many years…

Lake Malawi is approximately 40,000 years old. It’s the most southerly lake in the East Africa Rift Valley system, the third largest in Africa, ninth largest in the world and its tropical waters contain more fish species than any other lake on earth. Livingstone was the first European to discover the lake in 1859 (upon which he named it Lake Nyasa) and on august 16^th 1941 it was the site of the British Empire’s first naval victory when, at the beginning of the first world war, a British gunboat (Captain Rhoades in command) received orders to sink the German Empire’s only gunboat on the lake – which they promptly did (disabled with a single shot from a range of 2,000 yards).

That’s the factual travel info from today’s trip to the great lake. Long drive, about five hours, but the scenery was amazing and I was so glad to get out of Lilongwe again.

The landscape was sweeping and it was a chance to see the real Malawi. We passed witchdoctors in traditional dress, scenic bomas with delicately thatched huts and clusters of school children learning their lessons in the shade of a baobab tree.

We mostly drove at 60kph, but at least we could get a fleeting feel for the ‘real Malawi’.

The lake was majestic and it was a fitting place to celebrate ‘Bruce Lee’s’ birthday. We nailed a take on the lake as an intro to the programme and then as it got dark and the generator was switched off (we stayed in the gecko lounge – to be recommended) there was no electricity so we hit the sack poised for an early start.

My birthday. We took a long drive down to Lake Malawi and it was utterly worth it. We shot the intro to the programme from a boat on the lake as the sun died. It was beautiful.

Although we did get hustled by the crew of the boat who pulled out their collection of jewellery, and like the complete suckers that we are, we paid far too much for their touristy trash. Oh well… Still had an amazing birthday and a great fish meal for dinner.

Lee did great today. The Mua Mission is a missionary about 140km from Lilongwe and it does great work with regards to aiding the local community. It has set up a hospital and has also established a cultural centre celebrating the people and culture of Malawi. The bad thing about this is the horrible animal enclosure in the grounds: porcupines in dark damp pits, crocodiles in fetid pools with no access to sunlight, and birds of prey in cramped cages. Horrible and very sad. It has taken Lee two years to start freeing the animals and today he managed to rescue a monkey and a baboon.

As a trade, the LSPCA ran a community dog vaccination programme to help the local people. I managed to get bitten by one the dogs, which was a bit silly, but the dogs are not used to being handled and many were terrified. It wasn’t an aggressive bite, just a please leave me alone bite and I’ll heal fine. Just a reminder to myself that the ‘owners’ of these dogs have no idea how to handle them and I should be a bit more careful. I pulled a huge maggot from one of the animals – it was buried under its skin and Richard was amazing in his stoical and caring approach to the cases. The team went to do a vaccination clinic and ended up with a cat (bilateral squamous cell carcinoma on its ear tips), a sick puppy and a dog with a  broken leg. Richard set the leg at the mission and is going back to recheck it in a couple of months, the cat and the puppy though came back with us. Never straight forward!!

When we finally got back – I dropped Adam, Marc and Nathan back at the chalet. Adam thought he had broken his foot so was cursing fairly frequently, he couldn’t walk so he needed to get that rested.

I headed up to the wildlife sanctuary to give the guys a hand with releasing the blue monkey and baboon in to their new enclosures. It was amazing – the new enclosures were leafy and spacious and I am completely sold on the great works of the LSPCA and Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. It’s been a real privilege to work with these people.

It was another long day of filming this time at the Mua Mission – a very unusual place and not really my cup of tea at all. But the story needed covering and so we had to go. In the end it was interesting place and worth a visit – to see the animal cruelty in itself broke my heart and the rescue of the baboon and monkey was very worth while.

However there was some bad news from the day as Adam twisted his ankle. He’s holed up in bed with an ice pack. Hopefully we will still be able to finish the GVs and other stories that are planned for the final day tomorrow.

Looking forward to going home on Sunday. It’s been a great adventure, but pretty tired now…

Chisomo means Grace in Chichewa. Finally I had a nice name that I could pronounce! It was perfect for the dog whose leg I amputated last week. Saying goodbye was sad but it’s stories like hers that get me in the zone and ready for the next adventure. We did some GV’s in town – I was car security whilst Adam hopped and Marc and Bruce walked into the throng of people going about their Saturday morning business and filmed.  A few takes for the final scene but finally got it in the bag.

Time to go home! Dinner tonight to say goodbye – real privilege to work with Lee, Richard and their team. Donna and RSPCA International have done great things in getting this going and I’m really sold on the ethics and ethos of what the Wildlife Centre and the LSPCA are going to achieve out here. I’m certain WVS can help and I’ll start recruiting teams for them right away. It’s been brilliant but can’t wait to get back – home tomorrow – be amazing to see how Noah has grown!! Intense first shoot but really worthwhile.

Luke – Nathan – Marc – Adam 24 may 2010

As it says in the title: it’s a wrap.

Leg amputated from a dog. Leopard darted, examined and fondled. Python man-handled and prodded. Massive thunderstorm. We got lost again… (It was definitely Adam’s fault and not Marc’s, Luke’s or my own for giving the wrong directions). Long day.

And up early tomorrow despite us all being absolutely shattered.