After 5 weeks we have completed our final volunteer project for the Kasungu Elephants Foundation and left Kasungu National Park. We are terribly sad to leave such a wonderful place and want to say a huge thank you to Remke for hosting us and hope the projects that she and Matt are working on will benefit the park long into the future.
Unfortunately, we have left on a sour note with Lifupa Lodge (the lodge in the National Park) due to the behaviour of their staff. In the last week we had the lodge manager try to demand $600 from us even though we hadn’t stayed in the lodge’s guest accommodation (it is clear that they are not making enough money due to the lack of guests). We also became aware that the lodge had been lying to guests, claiming that they “fund and run anti-poaching patrols”. Although the lodge is supposed to be a conservation effort and should be helping to fund Matt and Remke’s work, this is far from the truth, and currently it is doing more to try and take money from them. And finally, on our very last day, I had to witness a member of staff from the lodge, working on a pipe right outside our house, throw a heavy metal object at a passing elephant (Fupa, one of our favourites who often comes to the house to say hello to us) whilst laughing. To say we were furious and disgusted is an understatement. We responded by writing a strongly worded but professional email to the lodge manager raising all of these issues (and several more), also raising the issues with Act to Protect (the owners of the lodge concession) and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife manager from the park. We have been assured that all of the issues will be dealt with seriously by the DNPW, and received a rather rude response from the lodge manager himself telling me these things aren’t any of my business. We hope that things will change and improve there soon because the park needs a successful lodge to help fund the efforts to save the remaining wildlife in the park.
Aside from this, we have had a fantastic time and really enjoyed working on our projects with the Kasungu Elephants Foundation. Here is a roundup of our last days in the park!
The Beehive Fence Project
We had to work hard to get it done, but along with two promising funding proposals, we completed our 24 page report assessing the possibility of constructing a beehive fence on the border of Kasungu National Park. If the funding becomes available I am confident that the project could be a success and it will be interesting to see what happens over the coming months!
Elephants
We had been waiting a long time to see some particular elephants, and in the last few days two of them made an appearance for us. First we met Zere, a cheerful one-tusked male who bounded out of the trees by the dam one day and greeted his friends, before joining them for some play fighting in the water. On our last day a huge crowd of elephants gathered on the opposite bank of the dam after Fupa had fled from the hostile lodge staff at our house. Amongst the crowd was the PPA family and their 6 month old baby, Mzanga. Mzanga is tiny and absolutely adorable.
Anti-Poaching Drone
The Anti-Poaching Unit have had a drone donated to them, and it looks like it will become a really useful tool in the efforts to catch poachers. We spent a few days with Matt helping him get to grips with flying it, controlling the camera and tracking people running through the bush using the thermal camera. The drone can reach speeds of 90km/h and is generally just awesome. Controlled via an iPad and an incredibly complex looking control pad, live images are fed back to us as it flies. This makes looking for poachers in the bush much easier, and believe me, it is nearly impossible to hide from it.
Dam Walk
One morning we took a walk around the dam with one of the park scouts, seeing lots of birds, and the Hippos and Pukus up close.
Chess Set
Matt and Remke have teamed up with a craftsman in Lilongwe to make exclusive handmade “scouts vs poachers” chess sets. The board and pieces are absolutely beautiful and it is hoped that sales will help to raise more money for their work.
Black Rock
We spent our last evening up on Black Rock watching the sunset. It is a gorgeous place and I will really miss the views of the park from up there.
Other pictures
Here are some more pictures of things we have seen over the last couple of weeks 🙂
Next Steps
Our volunteer work is finally over, after some fascinating projects and some great experiences. We have decided to spend the last week of our stay in Africa at Lake Malawi, relaxing and reflecting on what we have seen and done. This place is unbelievably beautiful and besides the constant pestering from people trying to sell us things along the beach, we are going to have a wonderful rest before we head back to England. I am getting very excited to come back and see lots of familiar faces. See you soon!
Lambey in Africa 