Almost 1,000 sold in Malawi

The best solutions to complex problems are often very simple. This also explains the success of the bicycle ambulances of Sakaramenta in Malawi, that offer a practical means to transport sick or injured people to health care facilities. Almost 1,000 products been delivered since the start in 2009. The best news? The bike concept of this social enterprise is now ready to be exported to other African countries!

Malawi has been nominated as an awards finalist in the Best African Tourism Board in Africa category in the 2012 Safari Awards. One of Africa’s most picturesque and compact countries, Malawi is in good company with other finalists in the group including safari industry giants of South Africa, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia.

De keuze van Malawische landbouwers om over te schakelen van maïs op het veelgevraagde paprika, blijkt de economie een boost te geven, nu de verkoop van tabak het minder goed doet. 

For the second year, the Kasanka Trust has run a bike race. On May 25, the Njinga Race took place with 25 entrants from the nearby villages on a 12 kilometer course. A Buffalo Bike, sponsored by World Bicycle Relief, was the main prize. The Buffalo Bike is specially designed for African conditions and assembled in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The winner was Derek Mwape who led the race from the start and finished 20 minutes before the other competitors. His prize of a Buffalo Bike caused a lot of envy from his friends. Other participants won T-shirts.

In August Majete Wildlife Reserve will become the proud recipient of four lions from South Africa, completing the return of the “Big Five” to this iconic reserve situated in Malawi’s lower Shire River valley.
The reintroduction of lions marks a significant milestone in the rehabilitation of the 70.000 hectare Majete reserve. Historically lions were considered to be common in the Lower Shire Valley but by the early 1960s scouts in Majete were recording only one lion every 100 patrol days. Over the years poaching took its toll and there have been no reports of lions in the region since the 1980s.

Constituting the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is slowly building up its snow cover, allaying the fears of prominent scientists who had predicted witnessing the eminence lose its famous white hat. The drifts are slowly thickening on the top point of this summit, giving new hopes to Mount Kilimanjaro environmental watchdogs and tourists that the peak may not lose its beautiful snowy cap, as scientific experts have long been warning.