In July, 263 African elephants were relocated on a massive scale, and they were transported out of Leonde National Park to their new home, The Second Largest Nature Reserve in Malawi, The Kasungu National Park.
Because elephants in Leondy National Park breed so much that the park can't raise them better, 263 elephants were forced to move. They are anesthetized by darts, then hoisted with cranes, loaded into large trucks one by one, and transported to Kasongu National Park, a protected area in the north of the country, 380 kilometers away.
It is understood that due to excessive poaching, the number of elephants in Kasungu National Park dropped from around 1200 to 50 in 2015, and increased to 100 after the crackdown on poaching. Elephants in Leondy National Park have been breeding at a rate of 10% per year since 2015, threatening the park's vegetation and biodiversity. In contrast, The Kasungu National Park covers an area of 2,100 square kilometers, but wildlife is scarce because of poaching. So, Malawi's Ministry of National Parks and Wildlife, in partnership with Africa Parks and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, organized the £2 million animal migration.
In addition to African elephants, more than 400 other species of wildlife such as buffalo, impala, sables, warthogs and antelopes have been relocated.
When african elephants were sent to The Carsungu National Park, a thousand people came out to greet them, but some residents living nearby were unhappy with their new neighbors. A farmer named Rosemary Banda said we were concerned that the elephants would lead to food shortages. Because for a while, the elephant destroyed my crops and left me without food. Patricio Ndazela, country manager of African Parks, said what we have to do now is create a tourism product for Malawi. So far this year, the number of visitors has increased from zero to 300, which is a huge improvement.
At present, about 40 kilometers of elephant shelter fences have been built on the eastern border of Kasong valley park to prevent elephants from straying into farmland. On the question of whether poachers will target new elephants, Patricio said we now have fences, trained personnel, protective gear. Most importantly, we have a fixed community that ensures they support the conservation of animals.
It's not the first time in Malawi that a large number of elephants have been transferred from one park to another. Back in 2016, Africa Park relocated 520 elephants to the Ngotaca Wildlife Sanctuary.