The woodland at Buskett, in the Luq Valley, which was transformed into a grand self-contained hunting ground by the Knights of Saint John, has been standing for close to 500 years and will always remain a favourite for Maltese family days out.

Buskett, derived from the word Boschetto (small forest), was built by the knights. Accounts of its being built vary with some claiming that it was built by the Knights to make up for the stripping down of local woodland to build ships for the order’s fleet. Others claim that the Knights built it precisely because there were no woods in the first place, with the first Grandmaster to set foot in Malta saying that Malta was “a barren lump of rock with no forests or running water”.

Whatever its origins, the chevaliers of old embarked on a superhuman engineering project to create the wonderful place we know today. It’s absolutely mind boggling to think that workmen of old, equipped with only manually driven implements, could fashion out such a creation. We take the irrigated citrus and olive groves for granted, just as we do the carefully engineered water course over the clay layer and the meticulously planned terraces and buttress walls to prevent the massive Mediterranean pines from keeling over and bursting the seams of the walls.

Again, it is truly remarkable to see that the walls which were built 500 years ago, out of nothing more than limestone, soil and rubble, were forward looking in the sense that what were saplings at the time grew over time to become truly huge. Yet the infrastructure still holds. Or does it?

In 2008, the government embarked on a public works project at Buskett and some walls were repaired while other infrastructural work was carried out. Bins have been placed and public walkways were improved and upgraded. Yet there is so much more to be done. If one goes off the beaten path and engages in some rock climbing, mud tramping and a little sense of adventure, Buskett opens up into a whole new world. You can literally scale up the terraces to get out of the ‘open picnic’ areas and get to the terraces which eventually lead up to the steppe of xaghri land that leads to Dingli. It is truly awe inspiring to sit in the crisp air after an hour or so of hard trekking and gaze down to Grand Harbour, which is clearly visible from up there. All you can hear is the wind in the trees, the song of birds and your own thoughts.

However, there is a great sadness that will accompany anyone who does make the effort to ‘get out of the box’. The further up the terraces you go, the more you see the damage that Buskett has endured. Most of it is down to natural causes while some of it is down to vandalism. Let us take the latter part as it is perhaps the easiest to explain.

There are many structures in Buskett, some of them look as though they could have been fortifications, others pumping rooms for the ancient reservoirs, others perhaps rest stops for the nights and various others.

These rooms, some of them absolutely impressive in having withstood the test of time with only minimal damage, have been vandalised with spray paint, fires being lit and structural damages. The same has happened to some of the walls; they have been literally pulled apart and it is very obvious as to which have been damaged by nature and which have been heartlessly kicked down and dismantled by people. Some of the bins which have been placed along the trails have also been burned or smashed to bits. As for the littering problem – well, the less said the better.

The natural damage is another matter entirely. When the rains come, topsoil is washed away and it is very sad to see huge trees which are hundreds of years old leaning at a 70 degree angle with their roots showing, or having become uprooted entirely. In some instances the rubble retaining walls have come down and it does not take an expert to see that it has been caused by water run off and soil erosion.

As mentioned, some of the walls have been rebuilt in the modern fashion with concrete binding and it was definitely a great job. A guesstimate would find that only perhaps 30 per cent of the whole area has been shored up. The boundary walls leading to Dingli’s xaghri steppe are a clear example of how much needs to be done.

The government is heading in the right direction. Trees have been planted in every possible conceivable area and perhaps what is most pertinent is that the olive groves near Bieb is Sultan in Cospicua have been restored and refurbished.

And that is where the lesson lies. It is a good thing to plant trees, but surely we should be looking after what is already there first.

Buskett is a piece of Malta’s heritage and it serves not only as a park, but a living monument to the Knights Hospitaller. We are sure that Malta can apply for the funding needed to bring it back to splendour. But this must go hand in hand with other things. For starters we need more park rangers to assess any damage that takes place and report to the authorities on what needs doing. We also need to restrict access to areas which are clearly dangerous and we also need to stop the behaviour of certain people under the car park tent that decided they want to carry on the partying of the night before in the countryside.

But we must also urge caution. While people will argue that Buskett was man-made and any intervention is justified, we must also accept that parts of it have been overtaken by nature and have become natural indigenous habitats in their own right. Intervention is needed, but it must be carefully weighed up and studied before we go in like a bull in a china shop.

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