Hi,
This is our first blog so I will keep in short.
Attached is a picture of the new bridge built by the Trust over the North Rumphi river in mid-September.
We had planned to build a steel bridge but scrap steel truck chassis are in short supply in Malawi. Poaching has been increasing in the north east of the Park and access by patrols has been made difficult by the lack of a bridge.
The killing of two roans at the end of August was the final straw. We cut down some blue gums to make the beams and collected some pine off-cuts and took them to North Rumphi - the blue gums had to be dragged down the steep slope to the river!
It took less than two days and a lot of hard work (the picture just shows myself, Charles Chihana from DNPW and the two carpenters who put the finishing touches to the bridge after the main work force had left) to rebuild a bridge destroyed over a decade ago.
Over the next few days Trust workers led by Jo Kapira cleared 18km of road beyond the bridge which had become overgrown. This should now enable the poaching patrols to access areas of the Park previously inaccessible to vehicles and will hopefully give the poachers something to think about!
Regards,
Jerry & Lisa
