RETURN TO AFRICA

I would now like to return to Southern Africa to help with the anti poaching of the wildlife. If anyone knows of any groups that need help in anti poaching, wildlife conservation, wildlife research or field guiding please feel free to forward my details and blog to them and take a look at my Africa CV.
Although I do not have a fire arms certificate I do have many PIR cameras for use in the bush which can be a vital aid to monitoring illegal activity.

WATER VOLE PROJECT

It is with regret that I have decided not to pursue my project to reintroduce water voles to Cookham and Maidenhead.
The main reasons for this are;
Major development to the waters ways in Maidenhead which are not taking the conservation of wildlife into account.
Lack of support from some local land owners.
Lack of support from the 250.000 local residents.

It is now my intention to try and return to Africa to try and make a difference to the poaching of the wildlife.

MY NEW PROJECT IN THE UK

TO LOOK AT MY NEW PROJECT IN THE UK WHERE I PLAN TO REINTRODUCE WATER VOLES TO SOME OF MY LOCAL WATER WAYS PLEASE LOG ONTO
WWW.WATERVOLESCOOKHAM.BLOGSPOT.COM

THANKYOU FOR THE TAKING TIME TO LOOK AND IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER YOUR HELP PLEASE CONTACT ME.

WATER VOLES OF COOKHAM AND MAIDENHEAD

AS YOU WILL KNOW I HAVE LEFT MALAWI AND I AM NOW BASED BACK IN ENGLAND. MY PLAN IS TO REINTRODUCE WATER VOLES TO A STRETCH OF WATER BETWEEN COOKHAM AND MAIDENHEAD IN BERKSHIRE.
I KNOW THIS IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT TO RUNNING MY PROJECT IN MALAWI BUT IT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WATER VOLES ARE UNDER SEVERE PRESSURE FROM MINK . MANY HABITATS WHERE WATERVOLES USED TO BE FOUND ARE NOW VOID OF THIS SPECIES AS WELL AS OTHER SPECIES LIKE SHREWS AND VOLES AND GROUND NESTING BIRDS.  
I AM SETTING UP A GROUP TO MONITOR THE WILDLIFE IN THIS AREA AND IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO HELP CONTACT ME FOR DETAILS.

IF YOU LIKE CARNIVORES?

IF YOU LIKE CARNIVORES THEN YOU WILL LIKE THESE. I THINK THE LEOPARD WAS CARRYING A SNARE.

ALIVE AND KICKING

Most of the news we have recently about the rhinos show dead and mutilated animals. I thought it would be nice to show a couple of healthy examples. Well over 400 rhino have been poached this year already but in Hluhluwe they have a new helicopter keeping a close eye on things. So look out poachers!

I have been in Swaziland for a few days and I am now in Hluhluwe again and have seen the wild dogs, elephants, rhino and many other animals. I am returning to Swaziland again tomorrow and then on to the Kruger again for a few days before returning to Malawi.

KRUGER

WISH YOU WERE HERE!

LIONS, LEOPARDS, WILD DOGS AND MAGNIFICENT ELEPHANTS 

LEAVING FOR SOUTH AFRICA

I am flying out to South Africa today to have a break and spend a few days in the Kruger, Hluhluwe and Swaziland. I am hoping to see loads of wildlife and hope there are still some rhino left. Hluhluwe has some of the best rhino in all of Africa.

As usual I have not had much success raising any funds for the brave scouts of Kasungu but will see if I can do better in SA. I am looking for boots, rucksacks and water proofs for the scouts. If anyone knows of a cheap way to get these items from the UK please let me know. DHL is around £150 for 10kg. That is more than the items are worth.

ANOTHER GREAT SUCCESS

ANOTHER GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE SCOUTS IN KASUNGU NP. THE CONFISCATION OF THIS GUN, JUST LIKE THE OTHERS, WILL LEAD TO THE SAVING OF MANY ANIMALS LIVES.

YOU MUST HELP THESE BRAVE DEDICATED SCOUTS BY DONATING FUNDS FOR MORE EQUIPMENT LIKE FUEL, BOOTS, RUCKSACKS AND WATER PROOF CLOTHING.

SOME OF THE OTHER ANIMALS WE ARE TRYING TO SAVE

I TOOK THESE 4 PICTURES TODAY. THE KUDU, ZEBRA AND HARTEBEEST WERE ALL WITHIN 100m OF EACH OTHER. THERE WERE 7 HARTEBEEST, 5 KUDU AND 6 ZEBRA.

 MALE HIPPO IN HIS FAVOURITE WALLOW AWAY FROM THE WIVES AND KIDS

 LICHTENSTEIN S HARTEBEEST WITH CRAWSHAYS ZEBRA. YOU WILL NOT FIND THESE 2 SPECIES IN MANY PLACES IN AFRICA LET ALONE SHARING THE SAME DAMBO.

THE CRAWSHAYS ZEBRA HAS NO SHADOW AND ITS STRIPES GO ALL THE WAY DOWN ITS LEGS. IT HAS A CHESTNUT BROWN MUZZLE. 

 MALE PUKU

LICHTENSTEIN S HARTEBEEST AND 2 YOUNG AND 2 FEMALE KUDU

LAST NIGHT ANOTHER MUZZLE LOADER CONFISCATED

Last night as I was writing my report on the guns that had been confiscated the scouts were in the bush on patrol and managed to chase poachers and confiscate yet another muzzle loader. Yet again their brave work has lead to another very dangerous weapon being taken from the park which will lead to the lives of many animals being saved.

A gun like this one was meant to kill elephants.

We know how shot guns work and they usually carry relatively small shot and are used to kill small game however a gun like this with a 20mm bore carries a much deadlier shot. The muzzle loaders are home made from pieces of pipe and use a variety of mechanisms to fire the gun. Match heads are ground and used as gunpowder and a homemade bullet is manufactured from sheet metal. Time means nothing to the poacher so their approach to killing an elephant is often not to kill it outright but to shoot through the softer skin into the lungs or other internal organs. The elephant is badly wounded and followed until it either dies or cannot move any more, it is then finished off usually in an inhumane way. Tusks and trunk are removed first and then meat from its back. Because there are usually only a couple of poachers they can only carry a small amount of meat so the rest of the elephant is left in the bush to rot.

So now you know some of the truths about poaching. Help me to help the scouts to drive this out and help save an elephant today.

MORE GUNS CONFISCATED FROM POACHERS

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONFISCATE MORE GUNS AND CAPTURE MORE POACHERS TO PREVENT THE SLAUGHTER OF WILDLIFE THROUGHOUT AFRICA

DONATE NOW

 These five guns have recently been confiscated from poachers in the park. One poacher was arrested and prosecuted.

 These are guns that have already been confiscated from poachers over the years. Imagine how many animals these have killed but due to the hard work of the scouts that put their lives on the line to save the wildlife none of these guns will be used to kill again.

CIVET

I have been back in the park for a couple of weeks now and my future is still not decided. I have support from many groups and have finance for my project so I am just waiting for a result.

This civet above is a regular visitor to my house and comes at all hours of the night. Other animals to visit the house are the genet, hippo and bush pigs.

The elephants are slowly starting to return to the dam and a few turn up nearly every day now. Birds have also started to return and there are black stork, yellow billed stork, yellow billed duck and spur winged geese.

The land rover is running fine after I rebuilt the engine and I have just fitted a new hand brake cable and prop shaft.

£5 TO FEED THESE 30 CHILDREN FOR 1 DAY

I bought a bag of maze for around `£5 in town and gave it these 30 children who live at the dormitory in Kasungu National park. Some are as young as 5 and have to fend for themselves most of the time. Their families live away in the park and are scouts protecting the park from poachers and encroachment. Regular supplies of food will mean they do not have to fish illegally in the park.
They have no mosquito nets and the dorm rooms have no glass in the windows which means if one get malaria they all get.
Please help me to help them.

3 weeks until project shuts down!

I have been working for 5 years in Kasungu National park in Malawi trying to conserve the wild dogs there. I am now being told I have to leave the park unless I can come up with substantial funding for the project. I have 3 weeks left before I have to leave. These are the only recorded dogs in the whole country and need your help now. Can you help in any way? I spend in the region of $20000 of my own money each year on this project and now need a co-sponsor to help me out. Once I leave the park it will be almost impossible to return. $10000 is all I need in kind. What are 2 packs of dogs worth??

BACK IN MALAWI

I arrived back in Malawi on time and will be staying in Lilongwe until I have sorted out the land rover. I have it running again as it was sitting unused for about 6 months and I have refitted the turbo and injectors that I had checked out in the UK. Oh Boy, it is still burning a lot of oil but I hope to cure that with the spares I bought in the UK. 

I am not sure when I will return to the game park but hope it will be soon.

There have been a few changes since I left, the biggest being the devaluation of the Kwacha. It has helped a bit but all it really means is that the prices have gone up by an equivalent amount. 

Fuel is now readily available every where and at about £1 per litre which is not too bad, however items like bread has doubled in price.

I have had some meetings with people out here and there might be some interesting opportunities for me in the near future. We will have to wait and see.

I hope you like the picture.

Come and join me!

 I am getting ready for my return to Kasungu. No luck in raising funds for the anti poaching patrols or for the security of the wild dogs and elephants.

Hopefully the land rover will not be too much of an issue and that the spares I have purchased will fit and sort out the smokey engine.

By now the wildlife and bird life will be returning to the dam.

Many animals exist in Kasungu that you will struggle to see anywhere else in Africa. Sable, roan, Lichtenstein hartebeeste and puku can all be found in good numbers. 

Bird life is also very special. Earlier this year the osprey were fighting with the fish eagles for the fishing rights in the dam. At least 8 different types of duck turn up along 7 type of heron. As for the LBJ's, well this is Africa.

These hippo often end up in my garden eating the grass.

CAMERA TRAPS

My thanks go to The African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) and David Youldon for supplying the project with 2 Bushnells camera traps and 3 Lumix digital cameras for use in the park survey and anti poaching initiative taking place in Kasungu NP. For details of their work in Africa please see web site below.
www.lionalert.org

My return to Malawi

No luck with raising funds for the project so I have decided to return to Malawi anyway and get on with the survey and anti-poaching as best as I can with limited resources. I have booked my flight for the end of August when the weather is getting hot. The prices of flights are very high due to the summer holidays and Olympics.

I have the spares for the land rover and hope they fix the issues I have with a smoky engine. If not I am in trouble.

The project will continue with the emphasis on continuing with the survey to see what wildlife is around and to continue with the anti poaching initiative which I set up last year.

Poaching and encroachment are still a real issue in the park and if anyone has any ideas of how I can raise money to help save the lives of the wildlife and future of the park please let me know before it is too late.

PLEASE LEAVE ME COMMENTS

Hi, as you can see this blog gets quite a few hits but nobody comments on its content. So that I can improve this site can you please let me know what you think.