| Dear Malawi cichlid friend, This is the first update since a long time of absence. Last year we had a bit of a setback regarding the production and placements of the ANDs, because Alan had to sell his lodge on the Maleri Islands. The ANDs were made ready there and also the rocks of the island served as anchors for the net busters. The good news is that the new owners, Jimmy and Chris Giannakis, are keen to continue Alan's work and will continue to place the ANDs. I'm very grateful to Alan for all his excellent work and wish him luck with his new venture in southern Malawi. Since my visit to the islands last September I wanted to improve some details of the contraptions, i.e. to add better floating material inside the AND because I found some of them that were leak and then became too heavy and sank to the bottom (where they are useless). My first idea was to replace the three plastic water bottles (empty) inside with floating polypropylene balls but I expected to get a large bag of balls for my $100 but that turned out to be a small box. Way too expensive. So now I'm thinking of a PVC tube inside with glued caps on either end and hope that this gives the AND enough buoyancy to keep it up when leak. Stuff in Africa takes time, as you are well aware off. In mid May I'll be in Malawi and will meet the new owners of the lodge and we will make a "plan de attack". We have about $12,000 at Penn State waiting for things to get rolling again in Malawi. Jimmy and Chris also took over the account of the Maleri Island Community Trust which was used to transfer fund to from the US. We are back in business of protecting Malawi cichlids! Thank you again for your concern and your assistance! I thanks following persons and clubs who have made large contributions in the last two year: Donations of $1000 or more: The BITCHes (Babes in the Cichlid Hobby) of the American Cichlid Association The American Cichlid Association (ACA) The Ohio Cichlid Association (OCA) The Bermuda Fry-Angle Aquarium Society Svenska Maskinskyltfabriken from Sweden Nordiska Ciklidsällskapet (NCS) from Sweden Cyril Franchi from France Donations of $500 or more: Capital Cichlid Association / USA Lars Andersson / Sweden John Bijarney / USA East Anglia Cichlid Group / UK Donations of $100 or more: Chuck & Carol Rambo Claudia Dickinson Paul Loiselle Zoomed Tom Herman Tony Sunderland Christian Alfredsson Greater Seattle Aquarium Society Lakemalawicichlids.co.uk & tonysafricancichlids.co.uk riftforum.com & Stevenage Specialist Aquatics Mike's Rifts Forum & riftvalleycichlids.com
THANKS TO YOU ALL!! Without your input and generosity many Malawi cichlid species will not be there 20 years from now. Enjoy your
cichlids! |
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