Majete

Majete Wildlife Reserve was established in 1955 in the Shire valley, in southern Malawi, and protects some 700 km² of miombo woodland, savannah and gallery forest on rugged relief.

Its recent history has turned it into a reference case. By the end of the twentieth century the reserve was practically empty: poaching had wiped out the elephants and virtually all the large mammals, and the lack of resources had left enforcement ineffective. In 2003 the government of Malawi signed a delegated management agreement with the organisation African Parks, the first of its interventions on the continent.

The programme consisted of fencing the perimeter, restoring enforcement and reintroducing the lost species in stages: herbivores first, then elephants, and in 2003 black rhino, in 2012 lions and later African wild dogs and cheetahs. Two decades on, the reserve is once again home to the Big Five and has not lost a single rhino to poaching. The model, based on benefit-sharing with the surrounding communities and on local employment, has been replicated in other African countries, and animals have been moved from Majete to restock other areas.