Majete Wildlife Reserve is located in the Lower Shire Valley at the southernmost section of Africa’s Great Rift Valley in Malawi.

Extensive poaching of large and medium sized mammals during the late 1980s and 1990s had rendered most species locally extinct by 2000.

In addition, the Reserve was subject to widespread logging, human encroachment and intensive fishing.

In 2003, African Parks Network was mandated by the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife to take on responsibility for the rehabilitation, development and management of Majete Wildlife Reserve. Between 2003 and 2017 over 2,900 animals of 13 different animal species from Malawi, Zambia and South Africa were re-introduced, restoring it to Malawi’s only Big Five Game Reserve. Majete is a prime wildlife destination in Malawi attracting around 8,500 visitors a year.

As part of this programme, GCF partnered with African Parks Network to assess the conservation status of giraffe in Malawi. Based on this assessment giraffe were (re)introduced into Majete Wildlife Reserve in late 2018. In one of the farthest road translocations of giraffe, 10 South African giraffe (G. g. giraffa) were transported over 2,500km to establish a new population of giraffe in Malawi. In the same move, three South African giraffe were added to Majete Wildlife Reserve from a nearby private farm. In October 2021, an additional 10 South African giraffe were added to the population in another epic move from South Africa, bringing the total giraffe population to 23 individuals.

Read more about this exciting rewilding initiative here or download this report.

This programme is supported by: