The Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve Fence
The Fence around Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve is our exciting new project for 2009 - 2011. We need to protect the animals that still live at Mwabvi, and we also want to reintroduce other game into a safe and protected Reserve.
Mwabvi is a very fragile area, with people and farms encroaching more on every side each year. We have two roads crossing the reserve and until we can build all of the perimeter road around the reserve we cannot stop local people walking through. Keeping the area pristine and the animals safe is not easy. So our answer is to Fence the Reserve. As we develop this we create a safe environment and we also demonstrate the potential for Mwabvi to attract tourists who want to learn about the area. The income generated locally by just a small number of tourists is significant, with jobs, businesses and wider opportunities opening up for the local people and their children.
What do we need?
First and foremost, erect a fence!
The Reserve covers an area of over 137 km2 and needs a game proof fence of up to 130 km in length, with solar electrics and 6 maintenance houses around the perimeter. We need a team of men to patrol the perimeter once it is erected, to keep the area up to 10 metres each side clear of vegetation and any breaks in the fence wire replaced as soon as possible.
We have already talked with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and local people and secured agreement to the idea and the actual plans. And we have already surveyed the line of the fence. The next step is to clear the actual line and the 10 metre buffer zone which acts as a firebreak and safety zone for animals and people.
After that, we need to bring in the fence from South Africa, including the solar electric system, and the special tools we need. Then a team of around 30 men to erect the fence posts and wire 'panels'. Finally we add on the 5 strands of electrification wire and brackets with the 6 solar panels to supply the power. While we are doing this we will build the 6 stations for the maintenance team. 6 local men will be trained to maintain the fence line and help with basic repairs. That's another 40 people we are giving a secure livelihood to.
Create Access Roads
We're getting good at road building around Mwabvi! We have already cerated the first access road in to start building the lodge, and to drill for the borehole.
The final road/track system needs to give relatively easy access to the lodge area and a game viewing road. We are using local labour and hand tools at present to build the roads. There are road building vehicles now available in southern Malawi if we have the money.....
A permanent water hole – solar powered
You know how critical a permanent water supply is for animals at Mwabvi. We have already surveyed and drilled one new borehole inside the Zone. For the third time in a row we found water with the first drill – this is down in part to the skill of our colleagues but it is also down to amazing luck in an area where the Department of National Parks and Wildlife have drilled 5 dry boreholes in their search for water for their staff.
And in a first for the Lower Shire reserves, we are using solar power to pump the water into an artificial water hole. The solar panel is hidden from obvious view, and protected by a steel frame. It now pumps water to the surface at a rate sufficient to keep the waterhole at least moist all of the time - right now it is spreading into several dug pounds to create deeper and shallower water for different animals and birds.
Incidentally we have offered to supply water to the DNPW scout houses from our own supply and are hoping to agree practical details soon about the pipe work.
The Mwabvi Gorge Lodge
The Government and National Parks want to see our work benefit the local economy, using tourism at an appropriate level. We agree, and we can also use the income to help our conservation budget.
So we have almost completed Njati Lodge, a small lodge inside the WPZ close to the Mwabvi Gorge and the Pool that Never Dries. The lodge has been constructed using local and reclaimed* materials as far as possible and consists of 6 self contained cabins, each for 2 people, with a separate kitchen/dining and viewing area. Most cabins are more secluded, 2 will be side by side for friends and family groups. 
This is a quiet and shaded location in a stunning setting, It will be available from Easter 2010. Find out more from our Marketing Manager at Mwabvi!
* like using old copper geysers to create two washbasins and a kitchen surface!
PAW promoting environmental conservation and development in Malawi
