THE TEAM AT CHISANGA FALLS

The teams had now settled down to work well together. Getting everyone acclimatised and fit is the biggest challenge and cannot be done quickly, so the final week is of great importance in trying to make some good progress in discovery and recording.

With the A team heading north for the long trek and the older team members focusing on transects and bird surveys at the base camp, Marianne's team headed for the sheltered but steep surrounds of Chisanga. This seemed to be a productive week and they settled well for the few days available to them, gathering much useful data.

Marianne Overton writes;

Elephants and Chisanga Falls

It took five hours to walk from base camp to Chisanga, with a stop for lunch on the way. Pete and Bill did the first part with us, enjoying the impressive views from the highest rocky points, looking down into the Rift Valley to our destination. It was truly impressive. Later, I suddenly recognised a point we had surveyed a few years before;

"Ah! There was the skin of a Berg Adder by that rock and over there were - elephants!!" And four walked into view, their trunks up sniffing our scent on the air as they went. We could easily have missed them and it was only because I stopped to look round, at the very spot where they appeared in a break in the bush. We waited and watched but they kept out of sight after that.

I was pleased that I managed to find the exact camp spot that I had picked out three years before - quite perfect. Tents were set on a grassy bank in a bend of the river, with a beautiful fast- flowing pool, ideal for a swim after a hard days trek. We climbed down an animal path to paddle in the pool below the lower most impressive part of the falls, then climbed a rocky koppie to watch the sun set over camp. That evening, we enjoyed dancing and singing round a big fire, laughing til our sides nearly split at the creative dances developed, especially by James Hebron with his wonderfully expressive face. Then as the embers quietened so did our mood and we were utterly engrossed by the accounts our scouts gave of their lives and events in Africa .

New species and Ghosts

We left camp in good time having finished our first plot by 9am . The four plots of the day covered a lovely range of habitats. We started with long grass, well over our heads on a steep slope - terrifying for Helen, who was kindly rescued by hero, James Hebron. Next was a lovely wet rainforest, partly flooded, with signs of hippo, elephant, monkey - and a georgeous golden-eyed frog! Birds of many kinds were busy on the newly flowering Sysigium in the canopy above our heads. The leaf-carpeted ground was plaited with streams which flooded at the forest edge where the flowering borders blossomed in rich sunshine. Two Brachystegia woodland patches revealed much bushpig activity and beehives. Two francolin and a flighty nightjar flew up from under our feet. We spotted, photographed and recorded a new species for the Park, the candelabra cactus, Euphobia trigona .

Back at camp we swam in the North Rukuru above the falls and James leapt from the overhanging trunk, draped with orchids - after I had checked it for submerged objects! That night the cooling embers inspired weird stories of the other world!

Joka! Snake!

Since we were out of Nsima, Daniel ate his first porridge breakfast, slowly and reluctantly, until at last we said he could have rice next time! We set off up escarpment and did five plots, in steep Brachystegia woodland, Rainforest edge, Protea grassland and a lovely rocky ridge with great views. On the last lowland plot, Daniel disturbed a large snake about a metre long, which shot over towards Steven. Horrified, he leapt out the way and fell over. The confused snake then turned and came straight for him again, so Steven leapt up into a tree, shouting Joka! And earning much humour all round! Leaping up the nearest tree, shouting "Joka!" soon became a standing joke causing much hilarity. Next time, we hope to remember to just stand still!

Returning to camp at 3.30pm , we enjoyed a delicious swim in the cool, clean flowing river. We sat on the rocks above the roaring falls, amid orange Aloe and brilliant purple aromatic flowers ( Dissotis princeps ) to watch the sunset and then chatted round the fire until 8pm , well after dark!

Exploring Day and Bats - visitors missed!

We set off downhill and walked 2km to meet the white dirt road, winding down the escarpment towards Kaperekezi Gate, crossing two lovely streams. We recorded tracks and signs along the transect and did two plots in Brachystegia woodland. We recorded signs of poachers, attacking the natural beehives in hollow tree trunks, leaving tell-tale remains of fire at the trunks of the trees. We followed the falls part way down for another plot and watched with incredulity as long tailed melodius birds alternated between enjoying the afternoon sun on the treetops and dipping in and out of waterfall itself. Their roost is behind the heavy flowing waterfall, inaccessible to predators. We decided they must be the remarkable Slender-billed or Chestnut-winged Starlings, endemic to a few afro-montane areas from Ethiopia to Malawi .

Sydney went to see if the Acrididae butterflies he was particularly searching were also out enjoying the evening sun and met Peter's team just returning after a long day visit to see us.

About 8pm , we watched bats quartering up and down the river, feeding on insects and some others passing through at a great rate, evidently in a hurry to get to their feeding grounds!

Half Day Rest and Riverine Forest Plot

The call of nsima was too much. Daniel and a small team was sent off to meet the bus on the track and returned later that day, happily replete with enough flour to make huge feasts of nsima! A "rest morning" was well spent in art and photography; Hils photographed Sydney 's insect collection for later artwork, I made a necklace out of seeds, porcupine quills and dried hare dung. Helen wrote her 800 words for the Lord Mayor of London . The others returned in good time for an afternoon of wonderful, dense riverine forest plots, where tracks of cat and antelope were clear in the sand.

Goodbye to the Valleys

Up and off at first light, leaving the camp as delightful as we found it, though the bees were already busy collecting salts from the small, well-hidden loo pit! With full pack and two stops en route, I was proud it only took us 50 minutes to get to the top. We did two plots, one on the rocky ridge which was wonderful with extensive views and inhabited by Klipspringer and nightjars. The next was a real feat, in long, unburnt grass on a steep slope with watercourses in ravines that are invisible until you've fallen into them. I genuinely found it very funny as the terrain seemed to play with me, making me tumble about, sometimes rising up in walls in front or rugby-tackling my boots. Out of our group, I always chose the most adventurous line in our transects, but this time I was glad I wasn't alone and James was also brave enough to tackle the dense growth in search of tracks and signs. Signs are much less is evident in this dense grassland habitat, but bushpig and bushbuck really make a habit of it!

Last out, I puffed up the hill to the track to find and warmly greet a scout from previous expeditions, Solister Munthali, complete with a truck, and leading a huge crowd of Wildlife Club members from the villages on a Sunday outing to learn about the Park.

Feeling well satisfied with ourselves, we settled happily for lunch with a fantastic view until our expedition bus could be seen creeping up the steep slope, laden with happy expeditioners from Uledi. Last night on the Nyika was camping next to the eerily deserted "Zambian Resthouse", once a colonial outpost. That afternoon we distributed all our remaining gifts and enjoyed a great party with Kath's brilliant rendition of our expedition and dancing the "choo choo!"

RELOCATION AND RESCUE Peter Overton continued.

With one team headed for Uledi and another at Chisanga, we needed to move our transport to a more strategic point in the park. We had also received an SOS concerning shortage of food at Chisanga. This was a communication breakdown regarding length of stay. We decided that we would benefit in future from bush ration checklists for these forays, where the basics at least, should be double checked. The rations are clearly more condensed and precise than for a stay at a fixed base camp. We therefore took a party consisting of Faston, Peter, Kath, Bill and Chris and Laura down to The Falls, left a few extra provisions with a note, enjoyed the wonderful midday cool of the fast flowing water and returned to our new base at the Zambian Rest House by late afternoon. We are very grateful to John; one of the resident scouts there, for assisting us on our arrival, but did not take up his offer of sleeping on the floor of the decaying old building! Our modern, insect-proof tents seemed a better idea at the time. This abandoned building will surely one day regain its former glory and be a great asset to visitors to the park. Its location could not be better. Anyone taking it over will need reassurance about the continued maintenance of the park road and a long-enough lease for repayment of the funding required bringing it up to modern standards. For those of us who enjoyed three nights there we found it an interesting sheltered location with, at last, some reasonable variety of bird species following quite a barren time on the more exposed parts of the plateau.

COLLECTION FROM ULEDI - VIEWING THE BRIDGE

Quincy, Chris and Laura, all of whom had been on the 2004 Biosearch Expedition to the far north of the Nyika National Park, set off on Saturday 18th August for Uledi. Alfayo accompanied them; it was his first visit to this far flung outpost for scouts. It was during this expedition that Quincy, our expedition leader in 2004, mooted the idea of a footbridge over the North Rukuru , to enable access into the park during the rains. Just one year later, a small team from Imperial College, London, started the building process and it was completed just before our arrival this year. The fit team, who had walked down from Jalawi, crossed the Chipome and the ridge into the far north of the park, conducting game surveys on the way, were greeted by the bus and celebrated the completion of both achievements at the same time. It was a fine way to end their experience of the park in 2007. They collected the Chisanga group on their return to the Zambian Rest House, where the whole team spent the last night together.

FROM NYIKA NATIONAL PARK TO Vwaza WILDLIFE RESERVE

Children at Bolero seized on our bottle tops for their games

AN UNFORTUNATE CHAIN OF EVENTS!

After some discussion we had agreed that no alcohol should be consumed whilst we were in the National Park. This decision was taken in deference to the scouts, who are not allowed to drink on duty and to make sure that no alcohol-related injury could ensue whilst we were in the wilderness. We had already organised the end of expedition party nights for a later stage. Crates of beer were smuggled on board the bus for the bridge celebration at Uledi, so I agreed that since after crossing the river, the 'A' team would be outside the park, the beer should remain, provided the empty crate was left at Nthalire on the way through, since it would take up much needed space and be a nuisance in the bus aisle. This did not happen; the crate was wrapped in a black bin liner and I took it off the bus at Chilinda to make space for the team, since we were already short of seats. An identical package was collected from the kitchen there. It contained much needed food supplies for Vwaza and was mistakenly assumed by one of the team, when we arrived at Thazima, to be the crate with the empty bottles. Here it was taken off the bus without further thought. The chef at the Kasuni Camp had no food for his customers, due to arrive the next day. I had agreed the food delivery in exchange for our essential fuel supplies at Chilinda, so we had to make a special round trip to Rumphi to replace the missing supplies. The event left us short of fuel to reach Mzuzu, since there was none to be had at Rumphi, and it had the overall knock-on effect of using up two hours of fuel and four hours of time; precious time which could have been used watching elephants! It could have left us stranded, but fortunately were able to locate 20 litres in small cans in a village. The fuel supply problems in Malawi were causing headaches in many quarters and we need to plan bigger back up reserves in future, despite the fact that we generally held 40 litres in the bus in containers.

All turned out well in the end and one can smile about these incidents in retrospect; but my prejudice against crates of drinks on the expedition bus has been enhanced; whether they contain beer or soft drinks is of little consequence!

Medical notes

Sundry health problems have arisen from time to time, while the team is resting on the lakeshore at the end of the expedition. In the past we have put stomach and other acute complaints down to eating food off the street sellers in Mzuzu. Now it appears that the problem may well be located in the lake itself. Whilst the expeditions tend to be healthy environments due to the altitude and isolation, there are in the populated areas of the Lake many sources of infection. Most teams spend some time swimming in the lake and we suspect that the swallowing of the water could be responsible for past sickness, which also afflicted three team members this year. We are therefore cautioning all those who may choose to enjoy the lake in future to keep their mouths firmly shut and not to imbibe any water.

SUMMARY

There can surely be no real expedition, involving exploration and research in remote areas that can ever be considered easy. The very act of living and working in the bush creates logistical challenges in camping and feeding everyone without the convenience of shops, running water and ancillary services. Our group in 2007 were however, very focused on the job in hand and this reflects well on them. The team split into three groups, which enabled everyone to work most effectively, with slightly differing objectives. This was one of our best expeditions over the past 12 years. I feel the greater mix of ages and experience than has been normal in the past, played a major part in this success. We were "leadership-heavy", which does not always work well but with a large team of 25 in the field this was an added safety net. Relationships were generally very good and team members attained their various personal obejectives. The fact that so many of the team have been supportive and pro-active in getting this report completed shows that they have gained much from their expedition. It is worth mentioning here just how much work goes into putting the report together, since this is often overlooked. The summation of all the time put in by individual contributors and the editorial and technical work in its assembly, adds up to a major part of the whole expedition, totalling at least two hundred hours. Each report could be simply a continuation of its predecessor. However, we try to publish each one so that it stands alone and uses original photographic material from the current expedition, almost exclusively. We have had many excellent amateur photographers and I trust the reader will appreciate their work.

The report is a clear indication of our commitment to help the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and the cause of conservation in the Nyika National Park . Biosearch Nyika is a truely Responsible African Wildlife Conservation Expedition.

Summary Report 2007

Foreword - Leader Report Part 1 - Leader Report Part 2 - Team 2007 - Environmental Protection - PDF Summary 2007

FULL160 PAGE BOUND REPORT AVAILABLE ON REQUEST CLICK HERE Price: £15 + P&P bound copy £7.50 CD