Known as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’, this beautifully diverse country has a lot to offer. From its rich culture, terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, adventure and scenery unlike anywhere else on the continent, there is little wonder that Malawi has been crowned as one of Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel: Top Countries for 2022.
Nestled in the northern part of Malawi lies the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area. This is a richly biodiverse 3.2 million hectare conservation area that sits on the international border connecting protected areas in Malawi and Zambia. Peace Parks Foundation has dedicated a lot of its recent efforts to developing Malawi’s Nyika National Park and Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, which falls within the Nyika-North Luangwa component of the transfrontier conservation area.
Malawi: A Beauty Unlike Any Other
Nyika National Park is a high-lying massif and a place of refuge for Malawi’s rare flora, particularly the endemic orchids that thrive in its cooler, cloudy climate. The lower-lying area of Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve consists of beautiful bushveld, offering a more traditional safari experience.
Peace Parks Foundation recognises the significance of protecting these unique areas and has support the establishment and development of the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area since 2003. With generous funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, Nyika National Park has benefitted from a rewilding programme, the training of more rangers and infrastructure development.
Today, Lésa van Rooyen sits down with Peace Parks’ CEO, Werner Myburgh, to discuss these projects in more detail.
Law Enforcement and a Co-Management Agreement
This year was significant as Peace Parks Foundation concluded negotiations for a long-term co-management agreement with the Malawi Government. This will establish the creation of the Nyika-Vwaza Co-Management Trust.
Leading up this, Peace Parks Foundation and partners invested in law enforcement activities which included the establishment of counter-poaching teams and of course, some of Peace Parks TV most loved characters, the canine unit.
With Nyika predominantly consisting of high altitudinal grasslands, it can be extremely challenging for rangers to follow tracks as easily as they would in more sandy terrain. The solution to this was to create the Rapid Response Unit that consists of three tracker dogs, Jungle, Nkonzo and AK, and their handlers.
Thanks to their strong sense of smell, these dogs have proven themselves to be incredibly valuable members of the team when out in the bush. Their ability to follow a scent over large distances has made them effective force-multipliers in counter-poaching operations.
Human Rights Training
A large focus in 2022 has been an investment in human-rights training for rangers, which has been likened to a ‘blind spot’ in conservation. Peace Parks and partners have sought to better understand the relationship that exists between the rangers protecting the wildlife and the local community’s perception of them.
After conducting several meetings with both parties, it became evident that the relationship between the two is quite strained. To try and change this, rangers have recently undergone a rigorous human-rights and law enforcement training workshop. This will help guide both the moral and ethical obligations these rangers must adhere to when performing their duties.
An 80km Fence
Human-wildlife conflict is an issue that affects many people living within the buffer zone of protected areas throughout the world. This is no different in Malawi where pressure continues to mount on the natural habitat due to rapid population growth in rural areas. This results in increased competition for resources between wildlife and humans.
To mitigate this, an 80-kilometre electrified fence has been erected between communities and Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve. The fence will protect farmers’ farms and cattle from crop-raiding animals like elephant and predators like hyena.
The fence is now owned and maintained by the local communities, with the park offering support when needed. The fence is there to protect and not become a barrier between people and resources that they are encouraged to harvest sustainable. To this end, people can still collect things like honey and thatch grass in the buffer zone between the fence and the reserve. The quantities that can be collected is controlled by an agreement between the park and the community.
Community Upliftment
Peace Parks Foundation has been implementing water security programmes in local communities living around the protected areas here. One of these programmes will be a water scheme that provides water to 12 000 families who will be able to grow food all year round. This has all been made possible thanks to generous funding from the German Government and other dedicated donors.
Environmentally friendly farming techniques, or conservation agriculture, have also been implemented here. These nature-friendly practices allow for the land to be better looked after and have resulted in local farmers producing a greater variety of crops. This leads to a more balanced diet and a healthier, more resilient community.
A Win-Win For All
By engaging with communities who live around these protected areas, significantly less human-wildlife conflict has been reported, the safety of livestock has improved, and an increase in successful agriculture has been reported. Not only this, but both the communities and rangers have reported a shift in attitudes towards their natural environment and those that protect it.
