Lilongwe is not a city you visit for its sights, but it rewards those who look. The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre is the most obvious attraction — a patch of miombo woodland inside the city limits that functions as a sanctuary for rescued animals. The Old Town market and river area has genuine African commercial energy. For those interested in politics and recent history, the parliament building, the Kamuzu Mausoleum, and the surviving traces of the Banda era make for a quietly absorbing half-day. And the city's proximity to rural Malawi means day trips into the surrounding countryside are easy.