Majete Wildlife Reserve is Malawi’s major ‘Big Five’ reserve and one of its top wildlife destinations. Located in south-western Malawi, approximately 40 miles from Blantyre and three hours from Lake Malawi, Majete is one of the big success stories in African conservation – an unlikely story of resurgence and restoration.

2023 marks 20 years since African Parks, a non-profit conservation organization, signed an agreement with the Malawian government to take over the management of the reserve. Prior to this agreement, Majete was neglected and, after decades of poaching, nearly devoid of wildlife – elephants, rhinos, lions, buffalo, even warthog were gone, and only a few antelope remained. Trees were being felled in great quantity for charcoal, there was only a handful of game scouts, and not one tourist had visited the park in the previous three years. The once beautiful Majete seemed doomed.

Jump forward to 2023 and intensive conservation work has regenerated Majete. Africa Parks have reintroduced rhinos, elephants, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, and wild dogs – in total more than 2,500 animals have been reintroduced. The animals have thrived and are breeding well, current estimates put the total mammal population at over 11,000. By 2017, so successful had the reintroductions been, that surplus elephants and other animals were able to be moved to help repopulate Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, 200 miles away.

Majete has come a long way in the past two decades. It’s almost unrecognisable from its former dilapidated state. An incredible amount of hard work has turned the reserve into the only official Big 5 Game Park in Malawi (Big 7…

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