Malawi community & conservation volunteering
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Local wildlife conservation:
We're located next to Liwonde National Park which covers 580 sq kms of southern Malawi and is the country’s premier and most scenic wildlife destination. Inside and outside the park there is a huge diversity of plants, animals and birds, including large herds of elephant, buffalo, hippo, crocodiles, black rhino, warthog, impala, kudu, hyena, sable and loads more. It’s also considered some of the best birding in Central and Southern Africa with hundreds of species. The river is a breeding ground for fish and supports the livelihoods of the increasing local populations. Each of our volunteers will have the opportunity to learn about the wildlife of the local area in detail, play a genuine part in conserving it and we hope will come away with an even greater passion for, and understanding of, wildlife in other parts of the world.
Our volunteers will be involved in wildlife clubs for kids, tree nurseries and reforestation in the local Liwonde community, educational excursions into the park with adults and children, and also helping to indirectly grow income generation projects that provide an alternative for locals that rely on the threatened natural resources in the national park.
We choose suppliers that match our environmental values:
We strive to source 100% locally. Currently in Malawi this is not entirely possible so our volunteers are involved with agricultural projects that aim to grow the food in demand, protect the natural environment in the process and increase the opportunities for tourism related establishments to source their food supply locally.
We are encouraging our local suppliers to fertilise organically, and teaching them how to go about it, plus the income they generate from their produce becomes an alternative from living on wildlife for food and income. We also help the local people harvest water and most supplies will arrive by bicycle taxi using no fuel at all. Most of our volunteers will also be taken to and from work every day via a bicycle taxi by our local transport partners.
Community
Campaigning for change:
All of our volunteer projects are working towards tackling local issues identified during our in-depth research that always takes place within each of our destinations with a wide range of stakeholders before we operate there. Our ongoing direct communication with the local community also enables us to adapt to changing situations. We are campaigning to integrate tourism, conservation and development in each of the destinations where are volunteers will be staying.
We partner community-based organisations (CBOs) in each of our volunteer locations. Each has a local representative with a passion for their community, great ideas and a determination to make a difference. Many are waiting for an injection of donor funding to progress, but we’ve learnt that more can be achieved through knowledge, skills, fresh ideas and motivation, than simply financial handouts. We enable CBOs to benefit from a flow of well-managed human resources and tackle real bottom-up development. We look at the challenges faced by these communities, and strive to improve education, health, enterprise and their plight to protect their natural surroundings – all of which are interlinked. To achieve some of these goals, a big part of what we're striving for is to localise the tourism value chain and use tourism as a platform for conservation and development. We're campaigning to enable locals to become a real part of tourism, enhance their opportunities to benefit and help form the links.
The protected area in Malawi that we’re working towards improving is Liwonde National Park, and we’re working alongside the growing villages in serious poverty that surround it. There are ongoing pressures put on the park from the local communities rooted mainly from a reliance on natural resources and subsistence living. On the other side of the coin, there are pressures put on local livelihoods from the park, with elephants and other animals wandering over the boundaries and feasting on their precious crops. In the nearby and expanding villages, people are also struggling because the land can’t produce enough food to feed their families anymore, and they now have to figure out how to make an income to buy some of their supplies in the local town. If people can’t do this, they often have to look towards the park for survival, not necessarily out of choice.
As it used to be, the locals really want the park to feel like theirs again (rather than just for visitors and the government) and they want to be able to respect and enjoy it. This is likely to happen only if people feel a benefit from it’s conservation, education is improved, alternative incomes are strived for, environmental knowledge is enhanced and people live healthier more fulfilled lives. Our volunteers will work across a range of projects tackling health, education, enterprise and environmental challenges to help the local people with the challenges they’ve identified as crucial, while simultaneously contributing to survival of the Liwonde National Park wilderness.
Travelling with respect:
Our volunteers benefit from a well designed, rigorous and enjoyable orientation programme when they arrive in Malawi. This includes basic local language tuition to enable our volunteers to share a few words with their new community. You'll also get the chance to learn a traditional dance so when you're invited to village parties and ceremonies you can truly join in. You'll learn all about local customs and understand how to create great relationships with local people.
All our volunteers will be encouraged to immerse into the communities we're based in. The relationship we've built with the local communities has meant they're extremely excited to welcome our volunteers to live on their lands, share time with them and work together. We have explained from the basics of 'what a tourist is' to 'why they've travelled from far away lands to stay with them'. Our volunteers are coming to help out and some stay a lot longer than a typical tourist so they have the chance to really learn.
We create opportunities for genuine friendships to be developed and where respect is mutual. As an organisation we are also working toward improving the relationship between the host and guest for tourism in general, so not just our volunteers. This is tackled through tourism related education, training and the growth of opportunities through allied enterprises. We aim to enable all visitors to our destinations to have the warmest welcome possible.
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