Arrived at SAWC

It’s with great delight and excitement that the Toyota Enviro Outreach concluded here at the Southern Africa Wildlife College after a long day’s travel.

The outreach has been a huge success. Full reports will be made available soon, but in the mean time here are a few words from the Outreach Delegates.

Theresa Sowry – Executive Training Director SAWC

Over the last 3 weeks, a total of 35 SAWC students have been located in the 6 outreach contact sites. These 35 past students come from an astonishing 28 different protected areas across Malawi & Zimbabwe. The outreach has therefore truly had an impact on conservation areas within these 2 countries.

Bryan Havemann – Director of Conservation WESSA:

Wessa’s involvement with the Toyota Enviro Outreach has proactively helped us to fulfil our mission of People Caring for the Earth. The Outreach has made it possible for us to engage with communities in very remote areas and highlight the importance intact healthy eco systems. The dependence of people on the natural resources underpins the importance of the environment in this present day and age. Wessa encourages development which is sustainable in nature, and which doesn’t not only focus on the economic side.

Richard Sowry – Section Ranger Kingfisherspruit

From the perspective of the people in the parks the park are in good hands. The parks now require the support of people and governments and that they see for their worth to the world, not just as a recreational tool, but as an integral link in the chain of human survival on the planet, because without a clean healthy environment, man will not continue to survive.

The people on the ground, the foot soldiers on conservation, the game rangers, men and women are still going out there every day to try and make it work and look after the land and the wildlife.

Jennifer Newenham – Environmental Consultant

The highlights were seeing how resourceful the conservationists have been with absolutely nothing, especially in Zimbabwe, where they use their initiative and are very dedicated.

Professor Michelle van der Bank & Olivier Maurin – University of Johannesburg (UJ)

We collected a total of 150 new specimens to add to the Tree BOL Africa project unique to Zimbabwe & Malawi. A duplicate of each specimen will be send to the National Herbarium in Harare & Lilongwe. Formal collaboration was setup between the University of Johannesburg and National Parks in Malawi & Zimbabwe.

Training will be offered early next year to delegates from Zimbabwe & Malawi at UJ and on-site. Training includes: Basic Herbarium technique, tree Identification and bar-coding.

Stephen Midzi – Section Ranger Vlakte Plaas:

We are in this world in this field of conservation for the sole reason of conservation of natural resources. This trip has made it possible, to put aside borders, nationalities and cultural differences in the name of conservation and to say to ourselves, we have a purpose as mankind which is to conserve the natural world. It’s been quite a learning process, wherever we’ve been, we’ve learned new things, discovered new conservation challenges, and for me the intensity of human wildlife conflicts around Southern Africa.