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Central African Wilderness Safaris, one of Malawi’s leading operators who run the extremely popular Mvuu Lodge in Liwonde National Park, have given us a rundown of everything they’ve been up to over the past year. From wildlife flocking to their doorstep, and a whole range of fantastic projects ongoing in the community, read on to find out more, written in their own words.
Dear guests and friends…
The team at Central African Wilderness Safaris hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with laughter and surrounded by loved ones, and we wish you the best for the year ahead.
The rains arrived at Mvuu just after midnight on January 1st – long-awaited and accompanied by an epic lightning show enjoyed from the lodge deck. And what a few months we had, spent waiting for the rains! September, October and November brought glowing orange and red mopane forests, the baobabs burst into blossom and the bush echoed with woodland kingfisher cries making their way down south. Most of all, however, it has been the superb wildlife sightings that have made for an action-packed few months for our guests.
Wildlife at Liwonde
Two healthy and established lion prides have been keeping us on our toes, moving closer and closer toward Mvuu as we waited for the rains. In November, the lions could be heard calling almost every night – the ‘little pride’ as we have affectionately named it, for it comprises of 2 small cubs, 2 females and 1 gorgeous male. Little in comparison to the other, ‘big pride’ … a group of 12 lions and many lion cubs. One of the little pride females is heavily pregnant and has been sighted numerous times near the Mvuu sign, so who knows what 2022 will have in store for us!
On the cheetah front, we also have exciting news to report. For a while in September and October, we had a resident cheetah female that disturbed all the baboons in the area, and our breakfasts were often met with terrified alarm calls. Exciting for our guests!
This female has seemingly moved up north, hopefully alongside another lone male we had found hunting on the floodplain north of Mvuu – one of our guides spotted him during a sunset boat cruise! Two other cheetah families are healthy and well down south, one mother has successfully raised all 6 of her cubs, and the other is looking after 3 relatively young cheetahs. The lion and cheetah dynamics have been interesting and as the prides move, so too do the cheetahs!
Black rhino sightings have been absolutely incredible, one sometimes comes down to drink at the Mvuu lagoon. A mum and baby are also frequently spotted and it’s all around been a beautiful season for the rhinos here
These wildlife sightings have been truly wonderful and largely make up for what has been another challenging year. The bush always heals the soul! But more than ever are we grateful to our loyal guests and friends who have supported us and continue to visit both Mvuu and Chelinda, reiterating their love for both sites. Chelinda is a wonderful place to spend the festive period, and we are delighted that yet again the camp and lodge were fully booked over this period. Warm and crackling fires, delicious wine and food, beautiful walks along Nyika’s rolling hills, colourful orchids ….it doesn’t get more festive than that!
Mvuu Lodge and Camp Updates
Our lodge kitchen has undergone renovations and our bush chef, Pius, has had some great months experimenting with new dishes made from veggies and herbs grown in our small, baboon-proof veggie garden! Our newest sundowner spot, Jackalberry Deck, is perched on the banks of the Shire and has been especially enjoyed as a quiet and tranquil spot for yoga, meditation and ice cold beers in front of what is arguably the most stunning sunset location in Malawi.
Elephants have frequented camp grounds in great numbers this year, with families moving through almost every day, keeping our fence-building team busy! Our new addition of the watering hole in front of the camp restaurant has become a popular source of enjoyment for warthogs, baboons, kudu and elephants.
Central African Wilderness Safaris & The Community
Children in the Wilderness
In October 2021, CITW-Malawi distributed 100 solar lights and cameras and tripods to all schools involved with CITW. The solar lights are to help children work after school and push their studies further. The cameras and tripods are a pilot initiative for the ‘Changing the Lens on Conservation’ project where teachers are trained in photography to help teach children storytelling skills so that they can write and tell their own narratives in relation to the natural world. `Changing the Lens on Conservation’ also involved `NatGeo reporting essays’ where learners wrote a story involving their link to nature and had to present it to an African Parks representative. These workshops provided wonderful discussion opportunities for children to safely discuss their perspective on nature and hopefully change their own lens on conservation.
Root to Fruit
Our carbon offsetting and reforestation project is flying! Located in the Chintheche area up north, Root to Fruit has an average tree growth success rate of 85%, and community members are very keen to receive more trees – our waiting list is growing! Root to Fruit currently has 3 nurseries and employs community members as well as donating trees to schools, farms and individual families. We distribute native trees, fruit trees and fast-growing trees to community members who take them on their lands or schools to help relieve the pressure on native local forests. Root to Fruit works in close partnership with Children in the Wilderness -both projects are very close to our hearts.
Mtendere Feeding and Learning Centres
Mtendere means freedom. One of our guides, Danger, founded this project many moons ago after working with Children in the Wilderness. His vision was to provide a safe space for vulnerable children in the community aged 2-5, to look after them and prepare them for primary school. Today, he cares for more than 150 children across 2 centres, in addition to his full time job. The centres are key in helping children feel a part of the community and feel safe. They spend their mornings learning English and Chichewa, dancing and playing, before being fed and sent home. Today, Mtendere is expanding its activities at the request of parents for after school homework sessions and is testing pilot secondary school bursary initiatives for a small group of children. Mtendere had a brilliant Christmas Party and are building a proper kitchen to kickstart 2022 with a bang!
If you would like to support these projects please feel free to get in touch!
That’s it for now, again, on behalf of everyone at Central African Wilderness Safaris, we wish you the most beautiful year and cannot wait to see you all in 2022!
Safe travels
The Central African Wilderness Safaris Team