Elephant conservation in Malawi

In the 1980s and 90s Malawi's elephant population was drastically hit by uncontrolled poaching for the illegal ivory trade. Whole populations, like in in Majete Game Reserve, were wiped out. In other protected areas and even National Parks, elephants were slaughtered to fractions of former populations.

Surveys done by the Wildlife Action Group Malawi in 1994 and 1995 confirmed the drastic decline of the species in the country. Undercover investigations revealed the involvement of Government officials, diplomats and businessman local and foreign. In some areas like the Thuma Forest Reserve someone could smell the many rotting carcasses from far. Even little baby elephants with hardly any ivory at all were slaughtered for small tusks. The Wildlife Action Group went public and presented Malawi's elephant situation on platforms like the International Elephant Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Over the past decade, Malawi Government has put a lot of effort into protecting elephants in the country and is supporting NGO's and private conservation initiatives.

But all protection efforts might be in vain if the ivory trading is legalized again, opening loopholes for illegal trade worldwide. One wonders why all that "surplus" ivory can not be bought by big conservation organisations and simply destroyed!

The Thuma Elephants

We only knew that some had survived the ivory slaughtering in the 1980s and 90s. Searching for them for several years we found them eventually... 26 elephants, hiding from poachers in the steep gullies of the African Rift Valley, not far from Lake Malawi.

We knew that for two decades two notorious poachers were responsible for most of the slaughtering and started investigating on them. One of them was killed by an elephant about 1 1/2 years before, but his nephew Oliver we found in a village near Thuma Forest Reserve. Who could know better about the migration and habits of the elephants than this poacher? We offered him to work with us as a scout and looking back today, we know that the Thuma project would have not been so successful without him on our side! Since then we were fighting for the home range of the Thuma elephants, the approx. 19.700 hectares (197 km²) seized Thuma Forest Reserve, situated about 80 km from Malawi's Capital Lilongwe.

As we took over the management and protection of the reserve in 1996, there were no elephants in Thuma anymore, but we were sure they would return, once they felt save. So we drove the poachers out with the best poacher on our side. It took another two years until the first about 30 animals returned "home" and are living there since under the protection of the Wildlife Action Group and the dedicated scouts. Today, 11 years later, we reckon that over hundred elephants are roaming about in Thuma and the adjoining Dedza Salima Forest Reserves. And it seems that some of them have moved in from as far as 200 kilometres away!

The vision of a few people, the dedicated and tireless protection efforts of the Thuma scout team and many helping hands of volunteers from all over the world and your support created and maintain a save heaven for elephants in Africa .... continue reading here