PAW News letter – October 2007

Mwabvi Newsletter: October 2007

At Project African Wilderness; "NATURE COMES FIRST"

It was Nelson Mandela who said; “if we do not do something to prevent it, Africa's animals and the places in which they live will be lost to our world and her children forever."

The National Parks and Wildlife Reserves of Africa play a central and valuable role in conserving nature across the continent. These reserves were set up to preserve the wonderful and valuable natural heritage of Africa; to protect the full spectrum of nature’s diversity, its species, types of habitat and landscapes, as well as the remnants of the traditional means by which local people build their livelihoods.

Wildlife areas are important for subjects of scientific research. Typical topics include studies on naturally occurring flora and fauna, interactions in nature, habitat restoration, in fact virtually all aspects of ecology.

A separate area of study is the social and economic influences of conservation and tourism. Such data enables us to continually learn and develop a more sustainable approach toward our management plans, here at Mwabvi.

After 80 years as a protected area Mwabvi stood until recently on the brink of destruction; a sad fact which inspired both Kenneth Smith and Gaynor Asquith to set up a project to save the wilderness and so PAW was born. Celebrating the 80^th anniversary of Mwabvi as a protected area is something we intend to discuss in future newsletters when we will dedicate a section to the history of the reserve.

Now however we must introduce the dedicated band of conservationist working on the ground here in Malawi.

Ken Smith is the Director also known as the “Barefoot” man; is African and leads the operation from our base at Chitipi, Lilongwe.
Anna Kahkonen is the Operations Manager working from our operational base just outside Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve (WR) at Chipenbere. Anna, well qualified in wildlife and conservation work, has been a volunteer for the past year and has now been appointed as a permanent member of staff here in Malawi. Congratulations to Anna for her excellent work, long may it continue
Elaine Winterbach from Namibia has taken responsibility on a volunteer basis as the PAW Coordinator. She joined the team just five months ago and is based out of Chitipi, Elaine is responsible for all the admin offices, personnel, salaries, procurement of ‘development stock’, and bookkeeping. She also, when the calf was in the pit, went down to Mwabvi to assist.
Dirk Rossouw also from Namibia is our diesel mechanic, our handy man and our link between Chitipi and Mwabvi. Dirk who joined us just seven months ago bringing with him a wealth of bush experience has proved a great asset to the project.
Christopher Ligomekaka joined us a month ago as the mechanic who spends his time trying to keep the PAW vehicles on the road. He is a very capable man able to do this important work in the bush without much in the way of modern day equipment and facilities.
Philip, a tourism student, was given the opportunity as part of our social responsibility commitment, to do some practical work for the last two months at Mwabvi. He clearly enjoyed it since he wants to the same next year. Thanks for the help Philip.

So what have we achieved out here in Malawi?

Well Chipenbere camp (Chipenbere, meaning black rhino in Chichewa), is now nearly completed after 3 years of hard work and so far we have: -

An office with water and ablution block.
Office equipment, data files, a library and maps.
A rifle safe
Internet access via a satellite modem.
A major store area, workshop store and workshop pit.
Fuel storage for our 60KVA generator.
A cool house for vegetables etc.
A borehole with water tank and plumbing to all buildings.
A water pipe line and tap to the nearby village to provide the local people with clean water.
Septic tanks and our recycling of waste policy in place.
Completed the building of our senior and junior staff accommodation.
Completed the building of the visitors' dormitory (sleeping 16 people) along with a dining area and kitchen.
Provided a main entrance gate and sign board and the demarcation and clearing of our boundary.
Provided electricity for the whole camp.

It took much hard work and dedication to achieve all these things and so a word of congratulations and a big thank you to all is the very least PAW can say to the many people who have helped and supported this project.

But as they say in the CLASSICS, that’s not all:

Signage: All signs from the M1 to the main gate have been made by hand as well as signs to Chipenbere and the walking trails have also been sign posted.

Developments and conservation:

The tourist facility at Migudu has been developed with 6 camping sites, each with its own water points, braai area, and eco friendly dust bin.
A borehole has been sunk, fitted with a submersible pump and an over head water storage tank erected.
The Reception area, ablution, game viewing hide and animal waterhole is under construction. If we can source all the building equipment we will be very close to completion this year.

Mwabvi Gorge: Our main tourist attraction is the Mwabvi Gorge at the southern edge of the reserve. We have cleared a road to the Mwabvi Camp to serve as a permanent firebreak and for tourists. We have cleared and marked a trail to Mwabvi Gorge. And the old scout campsite there has also been demolished and cleaned with the broken down huts removed. A long drop compost toilet, picnic and parking areas and signposts are now developed.

Eco focus: PAW employed conservation experts the Ekofocus consultancy from South Africa to help us update the Reserve management plan. The Ekofocus team were there in June to survey the habitats, assess our plans and advise on the carrying capacity of the Reserve for animals. It was good to get confirmation that we were going about the conservation in the best possible way, and they have given us more ideas such as an improved road system to help fire fighting in future years.

Another success story; in June Ken heard about a yellow baboon that was kept in captivity in Lilongwe. She was taken down to Chipenbere; Anna named her Posh, and taught her how to eat wild food. After a 3 months period she was successfully reintroduced into Mwabvi by Anna and her team. Now that deserves a round of applause.

On the down side: Although we have made many kilometres of fire breaks; from May onwards about 39 Km around the two main thickets, a big section of Mwabvi has still been burned down this season. Poaching of mammals and trees is still rife. Some of the pictures alongside tell the whole story, they might be gruesome, but this is the reality.

In collaboration with National Parks, who have the mandate for anti-poaching and law enforcement, we are devising a new strategy to combat these atrocities. The best permanent solution, as specified in our Development Plan, is to fence the whole reserve. It is obviously a very costly exercise and this section of the news letter appeals to you for your help and financial support.

A big thank you to PAW's helping hands: The following people deserve our gratitude and indeed our heart felt thanks:

Gaynor Asquith: Director and leader together with all the fundraising PAW team in the UK.
Leonard Sefu: Director of National Park and his staff.
Laurie Webb: Business man; providing transport for the generator and the thatching grass from Kuti.
Tim Mahoney: Landscape architect; for designing the reception area and for his general help and support.
Kristin Cuisinier: Animal vet, for her free time, advice and alerting us to the plight of Posh (the female baboon we rescued). Indeed we thank Kristin for all her support now and in the future.
Vinchenzo Constantini: Always ready to help and provide advice on technical matters. He also donated the security cage for the borehole pump at Mwabvi.
John Lombard: Support base in Blantyre.
Bobby Bayat: Help and support.
Nathan Dixey: Photos & website design for Barefoot Safaris.

We are currently working to our development plan and just can’t wait for the next six months to role by so we can give you a further update. So from Ken and the PAW conservation team in Malawi and Gaynor and the team in the UK let us say a big thank you to all of whom have supported us in our endeavours to save this piece of Africa's wilderness.