December 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph December 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Christmas is only around the corner and I can only imagine the flurry of activity in Europe and other countries.

This time of year brings out many mixed feelings for many of us. For some they are sad as another year goes by. For others they are happy and looking forward to a New Year, a fresh start!

For us in WAG we are very excited about 2012. We have so much work to do, many exciting projects to start, so many volunteers coming to visit. Next year, we hope to extend our fence a further 12 kms to assist with the human-elephant conflict. We also hope to do a lot more work in the local communities to improve their livelihoods which in turn will we hope reduce them coming in to hunt inside the reserves. And of course have more scouts trained.

But for now December in Malawi brings not only the festive season but also alot more work with the poaching season at its peak. We are on high alert and out all day and night trying to protect our wildlife.

In this newsletter we talk about the scouts, their work, our achievements over the last year and the challenges we face.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

November 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph November 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Working and living in the bush is a dream come through for me, however it has its down sides and is at best of times very challenging but when your sick ah... it is tough.

Having just recovered from two bouts of malaria within 3 weeks of each other it takes its toll and while sick

the bush just ain't quiet so cool anymore!

That is of course until you feel better!

Today I get up at 4.30am... Chaka and one of his friends have been around all night and I have been listening to their shakes and moves... I feel real good for the first time in 3 weeks! I am hungry!! :) No headache and the sun is rising and I am watching elephants from camp!

The world is all right again!

This is Africa!

A lot has happened since our last newsletter! Read on and enjoy.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

December 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph December 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Christmas is only around the corner and I can only imagine the flurry of activity in Europe and other countries.

This time of year brings out many mixed feelings for many of us. For some they are sad as another year goes by. For others they are happy and looking forward to a New Year, a fresh start!

For us in WAG we are very excited about 2012. We have so much work to do, many exciting projects to start, so many volunteers coming to visit. Next year, we hope to extend our fence a further 12 kms to assist with the human-elephant conflict. We also hope to do a lot more work in the local communities to improve their livelihoods which in turn will we hope reduce them coming in to hunt inside the reserves. And of course have more scouts trained.

But for now December in Malawi brings not only the festive season but also alot more work with the poaching season at its peak. We are on high alert and out all day and night trying to protect our wildlife.

In this newsletter we talk about the scouts, their work, our achievements over the last year and the challenges we face.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

2011 Thuma Telegraph

November 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph November 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Working and living in the bush is a dream come through for me, however it has its down sides and is at best of times very challenging but when your sick ah... it is tough.

Having just recovered from two bouts of malaria within 3 weeks of each other it takes its toll and while sick

the bush just ain't quiet so cool anymore!

That is of course until you feel better!

Today I get up at 4.30am... Chaka and one of his friends have been around all night and I have been listening to their shakes and moves... I feel real good for the first time in 3 weeks! I am hungry!! :) No headache and the sun is rising and I am watching elephants from camp!

The world is all right again!

This is Africa!

A lot has happened since our last newsletter! Read on and enjoy.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

December 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph December 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Christmas is only around the corner and I can only imagine the flurry of activity in Europe and other countries.

This time of year brings out many mixed feelings for many of us. For some they are sad as another year goes by. For others they are happy and looking forward to a New Year, a fresh start!

For us in WAG we are very excited about 2012. We have so much work to do, many exciting projects to start, so many volunteers coming to visit. Next year, we hope to extend our fence a further 12 kms to assist with the human-elephant conflict. We also hope to do a lot more work in the local communities to improve their livelihoods which in turn will we hope reduce them coming in to hunt inside the reserves. And of course have more scouts trained.

But for now December in Malawi brings not only the festive season but also alot more work with the poaching season at its peak. We are on high alert and out all day and night trying to protect our wildlife.

In this newsletter we talk about the scouts, their work, our achievements over the last year and the challenges we face.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

2011 Thuma Telegraph

November 2011

-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph November 2011(pdf)

Dear All

Working and living in the bush is a dream come through for me, however it has its down sides and is at best of times very challenging but when your sick ah... it is tough.

Having just recovered from two bouts of malaria within 3 weeks of each other it takes its toll and while sick

the bush just ain't quiet so cool anymore!

That is of course until you feel better!

Today I get up at 4.30am... Chaka and one of his friends have been around all night and I have been listening to their shakes and moves... I feel real good for the first time in 3 weeks! I am hungry!! :) No headache and the sun is rising and I am watching elephants from camp!

The world is all right again!

This is Africa!

A lot has happened since our last newsletter! Read on and enjoy.

Best regards, Lynn Clifford

-> Click here to read more

 complete health and beauty treatment along with maintenance training for our driver Chifundo. It was a  pleasure to  watch two people work together with neither of them speaking the same language  but  they  managed  with  much  gesturing  and  signs!  Grease  guns,  radiators,  lights, filters… you name it,  she got it. Our doctor Hubertus got his hands dirty and created a new shower  for  our  scout  village.  Until  then  the  scouts  had  bucket  showers..  now  they  have  a European type shower which they are delighted with.

Our Doctor also gave some very educational medical training on first aid and others topics. The scouts  were delighted They really enjoyed the role play and as seen above even pretended to phone for an ambulance!. Torsten our engineer and Hurbertus 1 managed to fix the pump system when no one in  Malawi could! And Frank oversaw all work and managed to create the most amazing dinners each and every night for us all! And even gave some cooking training to some of the scouts. He also managed to find every spider, scorpion and snake in Thuma!
We also made a small bit of time to do some hiking, fishing and saw some elephants just before they left!

 I have never known a group of men to be so knowledgeable about so many things. The group work ethic is outstanding and the easy
friendliness was incredible. Every day was filled with hard work and lots of laughter. We cannot thank you all enough for all the work  and  fun  we  had  while  you  were  here.  We  are  looking forward to your promised return at the end of the year! We need to inform Salima  bottle store you are coming so they can get extra provisions of Captain Morgans spiced and beer!
 thank   you   to   REA
and   everyone   who
donated    all      the wonderful  gifts.  We are once again able to upload            our               daily patrols with the GPS received.   The  new
shoes and socks make patrols a lot more comfortable. The pens and stuff were donated to the local school
who are very happy.
Thank you Thank you Thank you.!:) A special thank you to  Kristina who we know put so much work into organizing this all for us despite her own very busy schedule!

New Boots!	Torsten & The Pump	Frank	New Shower

VOLUNTEERS AT WORK

Most NGO’s have facilities for volunteers and WAG has been very lucky with volunteers in the past. Volunteers play a very important role in any organization, they bring and leave many new skills and ideas. Since I have been here we have had four volunteers. Two from Germany (Paula
& Sebastian) and two from England (Ellie and Emma).
Sebastian was here only for a few days while I was here so I have no photos. Paula did amazing work in  the form of an information board, free hand drawing all the animals of Thuma (see
photo), and went on some exciting patrols, one where an arrest was made.  Ellie and Emma spent several  days in the local village with the school. They did some conservation education, made some fantastic  elephant masks which the children coloured and then wore and did a drawing competition. Both of them were very lucky to awake most mornings and able to view elephants from camp.
I have managed to contact some previous volunteers but we would love to make contact with any others please. Contact me on lynardc1@gmail.com.
Thank you all for your help in the past and we are hoping we will make contact soon.

Elephant masks                                             Ellie and Emma at local school

Paula

 

WILDLIFE LAW ENFORCEMENT Wildlife law enforcement is pretty complex with many stages and many stakeholders involved from the beginning to the end. In most African countries is not taken very seriously and very lenient sentences are passed for these law breakers.
Over the last few months WAG have made several very successful and important arrests,
however the outcome has not been what we expected.

•    Sept 2010 - Our poacher with unlicensed gun and dead bush buck was released on bail for some made up skin infection, the files have gone missing and so has he.
  
•    Sept 2010 - three men accused of attacking and looting the camp spent 3 months in the local police cell (that in itself is no joke) were released on 23rd December – suspended sentence.
  
•    Nov 2010 – a night time operation in a village raid arrested people with elephant meat in their houses. All five were given a suspended sentence.
  
•    Nov 2010 - 2 people were arrested in the Reserve with a man made gun, these also were released with a suspended sentence.
  
•    January 2011 - while on patrol we met two armed poachers, one is a notorious poacher and known to both police and ourselves. We made a raid on his home in the village that
  same day and found 34 used cartridges. This was brought as evidence to the police. A
  warrant for his arrest given to us to deliver but he has not gone into hiding somewhere in
  Lilongwe.
  These kind of results are very disappointing however Wildlife law enforcers all over Africa have not only to deal with the poachers as the enemy but corruption also plays a very large role and
  lack of understanding of the issues.
  To deal with some of these issues WAG intend to hold a stake holder workshop with the aim to bring  together the relevant wildlife law enforcement partners and improve cooperation in the
  enforcement of wildlife protection laws. By doing this we will create awareness amongst our partners and discuss our current challenges and remove barriers.
  More to come on this over the next month or so.

   See below an overview of patrol activities.

  	Daily Patrols	Poacher foot prints seen	Snares found	Knives/ pangas/ axes/ saws confisgitated	Poachers with gun escaped	Gun Shots heard	Arrests made	Elephants killed
  Nov 10	21*	2	4	2	0	5	7	1
  Dec 10	24**	7	1	0	0	6	2	1
  Jan 11	27	6	12	2	2	4		0

  * days used to maintain Fence/road/camp plus chasing elephants outside of reserve
  ** 7 days used to work around the camp with the German visitors

  GET TO KNOW THE WAG FAMILY!
  We have put together some photos of our WAG family so you can get to know us a bit
  better. Some of our family is with us a long time and we also have some very new scouts that have just joined us. Each of our dedicated scouts and workers give up a lot to protect both Reserves and its Flora  and Fauna plus they face danger each and every day in different facing elephants, buffalo,people with guns, bows & arrows plus maybe injuring themselves while out patrolling in the difficult terrain. We have two camps where we live together for 25 or 26 days every month, with we have 5 or 6 days off. Our camps are basic but functional, in very isolated areas and somewhat extreme conditions. Each one of us live away from our family and loved ones which can be difficult especially if there are troubles at home and you cannot be there. For the above reasons we are especially close and depend on each other completely. We are together 24 hrs per day. On patrol we rely heavily on someone to back you up if chasing a poacher.
  We  are  kick  starting  our  Sponsor  a  scout  Program  in  2011  and  are  looking  for sponsorship to cover salaries and other necessities for the year and enable us to recruit additional scouts.

   

  Sponsor a Scout Program
  Your chance to make a big difference!
  The Wildlife Action Group (WAG) is registered in Malawi as a non-government,
  non-profit organization under the Trustee Incorporation Rules since 1994.
  Its main objectives are to protect Malawi’s wildlife and environment, and to assist and support the Malawi government in the management of Protected Areas.
  The  WAG  family  currently  stands  at  11  scouts.  In  order  to  support  our
  conservation efforts in Thuma Forest Reserve and Dedza-Salima Forest Reserve we wish to initially increase the number of scouts to 16.
  WAG launched the Sponsor a Scout Program some years ago, which has been to date  very   successful.  We  are  currently  looking  for  people  to  renew  their

  sponsorship and hoping to find some new donors for 2011 to allow us to increase our field staff.
  We are sure that individuals, companies or other institutions and organizations are keen to sponsor a scout – either for the full amount of 750 Euro per year or for a smaller amount suitable for you – and to make that important and highly appreciated  contribution  to  the  preservation  of  the  rich  natural  resources  of Malawi.
  With your 750 Euro per year, WAG will be able to employ another scout and equip  him  or  her  with  uniforms,  boots,  sleeping  bag  and  other  necessary equipment. This strengthening of our field team will enable us to conduct more wildlife  protecting  patrols  which  will  have  a  direct  positive  impact  on  the reduction of illegal activities in both forest reserves. And,  besides your direct contribution to the conservation of wildlife in Malawi, you also give a Malawian (the scout) the opportunity to get trained in conservation and to earn a steady income. This will enable him to feed his family, and to send his children to school or to the doctor: a win-win-situation indeed!

   

  So what is in it for you?

•     This is a unique way for you to contribute to conservation and poverty reduction in Malawi at the same time.
•     Every Euro-Cent will be used directly for the purpose it is meant for, and that is: having a scout in the field protecting wildlife!
•       To keep you updated about the work of “your” scout(s), you will receive the regular  WAG-Newsletter by email. And direct correspondence with “your” scout is also possible if you wish.

   

•       If you want to visit Thuma F.R. in Malawi, “your” scout will be available
  full time during your stay for hikes and guidance in the reserve.

   

  Some more about us

  WAG is an NGO, who co-manage two governmental protected areas Thuma
  Forest Reserve and Dedza-Salima Forest Reserve which are located in the Central Region of Malawi between Lilongwe and Lake Malawi on the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. Together the 2 forest reserves cover an area of app. 500 km². Generally, the topography is rugged. Slopes are steep although there is some flatter land at the foot of the escarpment. The upper levels of reserve are covered with Brachystegia (miombo) woodland whilst the lower levels are characterized by mixed low altitude woodland with patches of bamboo. Along the many streams within Thuma F.R., the habitat can be typified as riverine forest. Both reserves fulfil an important water catchment function for the area.
  Thuma FR and Dedza-Salima FR contain significant numbers of the remaining large mammals of Malawi, including several key populations identified by the

  Mr Pollah Senior Scout Joined WAG 1997	Mr Richard Banda - Senior ScoutJoined WAG 2002
  Mr Sam Thom Joined WAG 2007	Mr Medson Gelard Joined WAG 2006
  Mr Bitson Mwale Joined WAG 2006	Mr Kennedy Asan Joined WAG 2007
  James Kazembe Joined WAG 2008	Edward Thom Joined WAG 2009

  Geoffery Umali Joined WAG 2006	Kafele Kwachera Joined WAG 2011
  Lucius Mwayiwatha Joined WAG 2007	Lynn Clifford Field Manager

     

  SOME SEASONAL FLOWERS

  Wildlife Action Group – Malawi
  P.O. Box 282 Post Dot Net Lilongwe, Malawi info@wag-malawi.org
  Phone (Lynn Clifford): +265 991 224599
  The Wildlife Action Group (WAG) is registered in Malawi as a non-governmental, non-profit
  organization since 1994.
  Its main objectives are to protect Malawi’s wildlife and environment, and to assist and support
  the Malawi government in the protection of areas like the National Parks, game and forest reserves.

                                             

  SPONSOR A SCOUT OR     DONATE WHAT YOU CAN

                                                                                     

  Our main goal is:
  To protect the reserves flora and fauna, and to restore its ecological balance in co-operation with the communities around Thuma F.R. and Dedza-Salima F.R. and enforce the Forestry Act of Malawi.