Latest News

Support Us

Through your generous support, the Nyika-Vwaza Trust in Malawi works with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife to improve the conservation of wildlife in the Nyika National Park and the Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve.

The Nyika-Vwaza (UK) Trust will provide the funding for year on year operational costs and specific projects through the generosity of its supporters.
»» Click here to find out more

Early Controlled Burn Programme

The early burn programme has to be carried out every year so a regular source of funding is required. The Trust employs a group of local workers to carry out the work necessary to run this programme. Throughout March and the beginning of April firebreaks around the sensitive areas of the Nyika are cleared. From mid-April to the last weeks of May the work gangs concentrate on clearing the roads and tracks of long grass. The idea is to split the park into compartments separated by firebreaks. These roads and tracks act as firebreaks between the compartments and have to be cleared to prevent fires jumping from one compartment to the next. From the end of May the early burns are started. The start point and duration of the burns are dependent on the weather conditions. Generally by the beginning of June the frostsand sun had dried out the grass sufficiently for goodburns. The burn programme continues throughout June and July. The programme has proved a great success. The park suffered a series of wildfires throughout August and September; however, the firebreaks around each compartment prevented these fires from sweeping through the area as in previous years and contained each fire within a small area.

Regular visitors to the Nyika commented on how different and better the park looked after the burn programme had been implemented compared to previous years.

In each successive year of the burn programme the Trust will build a knowledge and skills base on the best and most effective ways to carry out the burns with the data recorded on a database for historical reference.

Why do you deliberately burn the plateaux every year?
In the mid to late dry season the plateaux can be devastated by hot wildfires (some started deliberately by poachers and some by natural events such as lightening strikes ) which can sweep across wide areas of the plateaux. These fires can engulf small forest patches which can take many years to recover. Hot fires can also change the nature of the grasses as well. By carrying out a planned burn of different areas of the plateaux every year wide firebreaks are created which will stop a wildfire in its tracks so reducing the threat to the environment.

Road slasing in preparation for early burn Setting a burn line ««Back to Our Projects