Klaas Krottje smiles when he is reminded of his first trip to Malawi. ‘My trip in a few words? Beautiful Reserve. Very friendly people in Malawi. And quite a challenge to build a 130 kilometer fence.’
The building of the fence is halfway. 40 kilometer fence is finished and completed with gauze and fright wire. 80 kilometer of wooden poles are in the ground. On both sides of the fence the ground is being cleared from trees. Majete Wildlife Reserve get it’s electricity for the fence solely from solar power. Two panels on top of a house provide the complete Wildreserve.

Krottje’s visit contributed to a better understanding of the circumstances in Majete. ‘At the start of our partnership, we wrote plans and communicated by e-mail. Although there was nothing wrong with the plans as such, it became clear that it did not work for them. Our advice was based on our own experience. But it lacked the local context.’ 
Heras had to get used to the idea that manpower is cheap. ‘In our daily work, we always think of ways to increase working with machines or technology. The reason is simple: it reduces costs. Human resources are our highest costs.  In Malawi it is the other way around. Manpower is cheap and machines are expensive. In Europe we use systems to check the fences. In Malawi you can make people check the fences. By working with people you create jobs for the communities, which is very important. For me this was an eye opener.’ 
  
Manpower
Heras is committed to African Parcs Conservation after late Paul van Fentener van Vlissingen, the founder of the wildlife conservation organisation asked the organisation to get involved in the protection of wildlife reserves. Heras wants to contribute to society’s progress. Heras supplies expertise and technical assistance. By doing so several costs could be reduced significantly. The company initially wanted to be involved directly and was not reluctant to donate money to realise a fence. ‘Building secure and prosperous sites is our passion. We have knowledge to share that many people might find interesting. We are specialized in complicated projects. And I can tell you: this is one. Not so much the fence itself, but – for us at least – the circumstances and the African context which was new for us. Culturally speaking, the people of African Parks take the lead. We are not involved in this part. It is APF’s expertise. I noticed nevertheless that the communities are willing to cooperate. They are always looking for mutual interests. This is most important and I have a lot of respect for the AFP crew. It is a delicate issue. You need to involve the local communities. I believe they do see the advantages of a fence.’ 

Klaas Krottje: ‘We put 8 joule per second on the fright wire. That is quite a lot. It is this much, because of the elephants. You need quite something to scare them off, besides that, the distance is long. For instance, in Holland for farmers it is common to put 2 joule per second on fright wire. In detection systems we use up to 5. That is heavy. In Majete we advise 8.
To keep the fences safe for the population, we use chain link at the outside of the fence. The four couples of two wires are mounted at the inside of the fence so people can not touch it. Besides that, we created a free space so you can see the fence clearly. And we have made special signs, attached on the fence every 500 meters. The signs warns the people that the wires are under electricity.’  

Krottje believe Heras is able to give African Parks expertise and tips. Krottje: ‘It does not have to be rocket science. The electric fence consists of two wires. A so called plus and a minus. You need to place these two wires close to each other if you want to scare an elephant. This wasn’t always the case in Majete.
 
Elephant skin
But will a wooden fence stop an elephant? ‘No not really’, says Klaas Krottje. ‘An elephant can push over a tree easily if he or she wants to. They will walk straight through fences like you see on the picture. That is why we use electricity. With two fright wires we can do a lot. Electricity scares the elephants away. They smell it and run of. There has been one exception I must say. We always think elephants are so gentle. But it happened that they pushed a sick elephant against the fence. This elephant got a big shock and broke the fence. Then the others got their hole in the fence and walked through. It happened once.’

Klaas Krottje is optimistic about Majete’s future. He is happy Heras contributes to this development. ‘Yes, the maize fields in the area of the fence are quite safe at the moment. The elephants are afraid of the fence. I am convinced the fence will bring prosperity. It will make the Reserve an agent of prosperity. This will increase the number of tourists, which generates income for local communities. And besides that, we estimate that 150 people will work on building the fence for about one year. We are almost half way now.

Find a photo series of the fence here.