Dzalanyama Forest Reserve Restoration Project
Dzalanyama forest Dzalanyama forest reserve is located to the south west of Lilongwe district. It is some 60km from the capital’s city centre. Sitting on a range of hills bearing the same name, Dzalanyama forest reserve covers approximately 935 km2 of land. And while the local name Dzalanyama means “full of wild animals” the story is different lately due to poaching.
Game life in the reserve has deteriorated such that as of present only monkeys, rabbits, and deer exists though it still boasts of a vast variety of natural forest cover with a little exotic breeds introduced on its commercial plantations. The reserve overlooks the Lilongwe plains and it rises between 1100 to 1713m above sea level and is considered the main water catchment area for the City. It was declared a forest reserve in 1922 with some parts of it being shared by the districts of Mchinji and Dedza.
In recognizance of the plight and state of the reserve, we are in ery advanced discussions with the Government of Malawi to adopt at least 300 hectares (within the next 3 to 5 years) of the forest reserve for private management in response to the invitation under the “Adopt a Forest Initiative”. Our plans is to carry out silviculture management on the existing stand of miombo woodlands and establish our own plantations as part of boundary tracing to arrest encroachment on bare lands with the technical direction from the Department of Forestry.
Our activities will also include establishment of a beekeeping system involving the communities surrounding the forest reserve to demonstrate the significance of natural resources conservation whilst introducing forestry friendly enterprises as alternative and sustainable source of new livelihoods.