Latest News

2010 Fundraising Evening at the RGS in London

We hope that you will join us as we gather again at the RGS on Tuesday 9 November 2010. We are fortunate that Professor Anthony Young will give an illustrated lecture entitled “Thin on the Ground. Land Resource Survey in Malawi and the Commonwealth”. Anthony Young is Emeritus Professor and Honorary Research Fellow in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia.

For further information and to apply for tickets please click here.

News from the field

To give you a sense of what our work involves day to day, please read our 2009 field diary below:

August

At this time of year, the nights at Chelinda are still cold but the days are starting to get warmer. Apart from some late burning, most of the work in August was fairly routine road maintenance and the removal of Himalayan raspberry.

A swarm of bees took up residence in the office, intent on building a nest in the gap between the external and internal walls. This made life difficult for a while but fortunately there is plenty of bee-keeping expertise on hand at Chelinda!

UK Trustee Mike Budgen and his mother very generously donated the funds for a portable Honda generator and this was delivered by Malawi Trustee and Chairman Chris Walker when he visited Chelinda in early August.

Poaching activity has been on the increase. A zebra was shot near the Zambian Resthouse and two roan antelope were shot near to North Rumphi. National park scouts apprehended two poachers near North Rumphi but there was evidence of various groups of poachers operating there.

September

Increasing temperatures and areas of fresh vegetation after the controlled burning have resulted in the gradual return of large herds of eland, roan, zebra and reedbuck to the higher parts of the Nyika plateau. The eland and roan herds included many infants. Wildflowers also started to bloom and the shorter vegetation mean that duikers were spotted more frequently.

September was a very busy month for the Trust both at the Nyika and in Vwaza. A major achievement was building a bridge over the North Rumphi river. This opens up much of the north-east of the Nyika to anti-poaching patrol vehicles for the first time in over a decade!

Joseph Mhone had the honour of driving the first vehicle over the new bridge across the North Rumphi river and over the next four days Jo Kapira and a team of Trust workers cleared about 10 km of road to the north of the new bridge to make it accessible to vehicles. This will enable anti-poaching patrols to be dropped off much deeper in this area of the Park and it is hoped that this will have a significant impact on poaching activity.

The Trust’s new portable generator was put to immediate use. Texon Kapira and Frackson Ndovi have made new signs to replace inaccurate ones and Lameck Gondwe took over the task of fixing the signs to the concrete and stone plinths across the Nyika.

In Vwaza, Jo Kapira and a team of Trust workers dug a 400 metre long channel (the Hewe Channel) to re-direct water (previously diverted by local villagers) back towards a river that flows into Lake Kazuni. This should help increase the level of water in the Lake during the dry season. After discussions with National Parks and local village chiefs, the Trust will return to the area and extend the channel by 150 metres to ensure that water does not flood villagers’ gardens. Elephants “playing” in the South Rukuru river damaged the barrage constructed by the Trust in July (see the Winter 2009 issue of Nyika-Vwaza News for more details) resulting in a drop in the level of the lake. Masewero Mghogho and a team of Trust workers spent an “interesting” day at Kazuni dodging a herd of 30-40 elephants to repair the damage and reinforce the barrage.

October

The first week in October saw a couple of heavy downpours and lightning storms but, after that, the weather was dry and increasingly hot and windy. Although there were numerous “poachers’” fires during September and early October, none needed serious intervention by the Trust.

However, hopes that we would get through to the start of the rainy season without having to fight any major fires were dashed with a serious fire that threatened Chelinda Lodge and Plantation and another fire near the Matola river. Both fires were successfully contained.

As well as fighting fires, Trust workers completed the Hewe channel and made significant progress towards rebuilding Chisanga bridge. National Parks and The Peace Parks Foundation conducted an aerial survey of game numbers at Nyika and Vwaza.

Senior Mechanic Lameck Gondwe completed a Defensive Driving skills course run by the National Road Safety Council in Mzuzu and driver Joseph Mhone is scheduled to take the same course in November. The Trust has paid the cost of these courses which it is hoped will extend the life-spans of Trust vehicles!

After discussions with National Parks and the local village chiefs, Trust workers returned to Hewe for another week to extend and broaden the channel. The channel is now about 700 metres long and, despite the dry season, the diverted water was flowing strongly. This should assist in maintaining the level of Lake Kazuni during next year’s dry season. After the team had completed work on the Hewe channel, they spent a day repairing an old dam near Kawiya Camp at the north end of Vwaza, which should help provide water for animals during next year’s dry season.

And finally, as the sun set over a dusty Chelinda stadium, the Zebra Warriors came back from a goal down against Gamba to earn a deserved draw courtesy of a late goal by their captain and Trust mechanic Yobe Nyelemu.

November

Early November brought some tremendous downpours including one big hailstorm. These first rains cleared the dust and smoke from the air and there were stunning views across the (increasingly green) Nyika plateau and across into Zambia.

Towards the end of November large herds of eland, roan antelopes and smaller groups of zebra suddenly descended on the Chelinda area, making for some spectacular game viewing.

The work highlight this month was the completion of the Chisanga bridge, a major undertaking completed despite shortages of both diesel and cement. Malawi trustee John Pendered spent a lot of time and effort trying to track down suitable lorry chassis for this bridge. Despite getting a local steel fabrication company to agree to supply steel at cost and do the work for free, the cost of using new steel was prohibitive. The new Chisanga bridge has therefore been made from 11 metre blue gum beams which are significantly thicker than the beams used to make the old bridge, with pine cut offs and some lengths of timber being used to complete the bridge. Even if obtaining steel is not possible in the short or medium term, this bridge should last many years. The Trust will ensure that the area around the bridge is kept clear of combustible material to keep the risk of fire damage to a minimum. As with the North Rumphi bridge, now that the stone and concrete is in place, replacing the wooden sections can probably be done in matter of days.

December

Herds of eland, roan and zebras continued to congregate around Chelinda and a lone elephant was spotted heading in the general direction of Chelinda near the road to the Zambian Resthouse.

Although there were a number of fatalities and much infrastructure damage following earthquakes in the Karonga area, Chelinda was spared.

December was a quiet month as the Trust’s operations were wound down for Christmas. All casual staff had left by the middle of the month and permanent staff returned home just before Christmas.

Tom Lupton - new chairman of the Nyika-Vwaza (UK) Trust

Tom Lupton has been elected as the new Chairman of the Nyika –Vwaza (UK) Trust. Tom has been a Trustee since February 2008 and those of you who attended the RGS evening last year will remember his presentation there on recent trust activities in Malawi. Tom has had a lifelong interest in conservation and spent seven years in Malawi working for the Commonwealth Development Corporation, including living in Northern Malawi and working with smallholder coffee farmers around the edge of the Nyika. During this time, he got to know and love the Nyika. Since leaving CDC in 002, Tom has been a regular visitor to Malawi on business and to see friends.

Commenting on his election, Tom said: "I am delighted to be able to take on the Chairmanship of the Trust. Since being set up in 2004 it has developed into a well respected organisation. Together with its sister Trust based in Malawi it is supporting important conservation and protection work on the Nyika and at Vwaza Marsh. I visited Malawi in November 2009 and saw at first hand the activites being undertaken by the Trust and the importance of its support in helping protect these wilderness areas. I look forward to working with the Trustees and our supporters to raise awareness of the Nyika and Vwaza, and in raising money to fund conservation work in Malawi.