This week, Peace Parks TV is in Nyika National Park, where the rains have come and filled the many rivers that course through this lush and mountainous landscape. At this time of year, the park’s community scouts, who work tirelessly to combat poaching, must navigate these rivers as they patrol and pursue suspects. The 13 newly recruited scouts are in the capable hands of Norman English, Peace Parks Foundation’s Counter Poaching Coordinator in Nyika.
Training is immersive. The new team must take turns crossing the bursting river using techniques taught by Norman, with the help of Ellington Alifeyo, Parks and Wildlife Assistant and member of the Rapid Response Unit. Norman explains how to throw a rope, attached to a stick, into thick brush on the far side of the river to anchor a safety line along which trainees can pull themselves to the bank. Ellington, who is an accomplished swimmer, demonstrates how best to respond when caught in the current, should they lose their grip on the rope. “Here, he is showing his colleagues how to float down the river without panicking, letting the water carry them to wherever they need to climb out,” Norman explains.
Throughout the protected areas where Peace Parks is operational, rangers carry enormous responsibilities; they are highly skilled guardians of nature, and constantly prepared to put themselves in potential danger in the line of anti-poaching duty. Investing in their safety and wellbeing is critical, and Peace Parks works with management staff and partners, with the invaluable support of donors, to ensure that their training and self-development are comprehensive, and ongoing.
This team of scouts has been recruited from local communities by Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife, with financial support from the COmON Foundation. Employing people who live nearby to Nyika extends a livelihood lifeline, as well as creates a conservation workforce that the park critically depends on. In the regions bordering protected areas, job creation is helping to ensure that communities have an alternative to harvesting natural resources for income, and that they are invested in safeguarding wildlife and ecosystems. By building this connection with nature, landscapes are revived, and responsible tourism thrives. This, in turn, provides a revenue share for local people.
In 2023, Peace Parks Foundation signed a landmark co-management agreement with the Government of Malawi, to secure the long-term protection and sustainability of Nyika National Park and nearby Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve. For the first time in the country’s history, an independent trust is being established that will professionally manage these conservation areas whilst bringing together the Government, NGOs, private sector and communities on an equal footing.
This exciting development reflects both the power of partnerships and the vital contribution made by the local communities to the future of #NatureWithoutBorders in Malawi.
Stay tuned to Peace Parks TV for more on the ground action.
