By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, August 15, Mana: African Parks says it fears there will be increased illegal gold mining activities in Nkhotakota Game Reserve during the coming dry months of the year as water levels in Bua River recede.

Park Manager for Nkhotakota Game Reserve, Davie Nangoma, told a wildlife stakeholders meeting in Kasungu on Wednesday that illegal mining activities are rampant as people invade the protected area panning gold deposits in Bua river.

“Gold mining activities are very destructive to the ecosystem and our intelligence shows that the activities will increase as we are approaching drier months of the year.

“We are calling on the police and the judiciary for more support. We may also consider engaging the Malawi Defense Force so that we deal with the problem,” Nangoma said.

However, Nangoma said cases of vandalism have gone down in 2024 as compared to 2023 as only seven kilometres of the perimeter fence has been vandalized against last year’s 29 kilometres.

He said African Parks has invested in more hospitality infrastructure within Nkhotakota Game Reserve citing the completion of Livwezi Bush Camp which is now operational and Navunde Tourism Stop-Over which is still under construction.

During the meeting, various stakeholders expressed concern that the laws of the country do not provide compensation to victims of human-animal conflict, specifically in cases where animals kill or injure people and destroy crops.

Member of Parliament for Kasungu East, Madalitso Kazombo, said there is need for the park authorities to conduct a study on how other countries are managing such cases so that legislators are guided on whether there is a need to change the law.

He said: “We need to be guided if there is a need to change the laws on compensation because I understand that laws must be progressive, active and able to solve people’s challenges.

“We should protect our people but at the same time we do not want to create laws that will negatively affect tourism, so we need to be guided so that we learn on how we can proceed.”

In most southern and east African countries, laws do not provide for compensation to victims of human and wildlife conflicts.

In her remarks, Kasungu District Council Chairperson, Mwambilaso Mbedza said tourism is one of the government’s priority areas hence the need for stakeholders to be in the same direction to ensure that parks and game reserves are protected.

Nkhotakota is the country’s oldest and largest game reserve and was home to over 1,500 elephants, but the population fell to less than 100 in 2015, forcing authorities to translocate 500 elephants from Liwonde and Majete in 2017.

Through conservation works, African Parks has also brought in 850 different species of animals to improve animal sightings and attract more tourists.