2019 Annual Report Realising Hope

Since our beginnings, we have stayed true to our mission – effectively managing protected areas for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Twenty years ago, African Parks was created to set a new paradigm for protected area management. Since our beginnings, we have stayed true to our mission – effectively managing and protecting national parks for the benefit of people and wildlife. From Majete in 2003 to now 17 parks in 11 countries with over 13.3 million hectares under management, we have accelerated and scaled our work knowing that we are in a race against time. What is not well-managed today will be lost forever.

Our model ensures that effectively managed parks serve as a nucleus for a conservation-led economy, delivering a host of ecological, socio-political and economic benefits for people living in and around these landscapes. African Parks is one of the largest employers in every place we work, and tens of thousands of children have access to some form of education because of us. Our approach has been resilient to the changing nature of the threats this continent has faced, for wildlife and people, over the years. But the true test of a great model is not just in tackling the threats that are known, it is in its resilience in dealing with things we could never have imagined.

As a global pandemic sweeps across the planet bringing it to a virtual standstill, it has a profound social and economic impact on us all, especially for rural communities. COVID-19, like MERS and SARS, comes from nature, but it is the actions of people which unleashed it. The rise in habitat loss and exploitation of wildlife is undeniably linked to these epidemics. If there was ever a case for protecting nature, if we ever needed a reminder that our mission matters and that nature matters to people’s lives, it is now.

While what we are currently experiencing is unprecedented, we are confident that African Parks, our team, and our community, will withstand this extraordinary test. Our stories of hope, transformation and defying the odds from the last 20 years serve as a reminder – it is thanks to you, our bold and committed partners and funders that we have remained steadfast in changing the trajectory for paving a better way of life for humans and wildlife alike. As challenging as things will get, together we are walking the right path in protecting nature and reclaiming a sustainable future for everyone.

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Our Portfolio

At the close of 2019, African Parks had 17 parks under management in 11 countries, covering over 13.3 million hectares (51,352 square miles) and representing nine of the 13 ecological biomes on main land Africa. This is the largest and most ecologically diverse amount of land under protection for any one NGO on the continent.

2019: By the Numbers

Ecological: What is not protected will be lost

Functioning wild ecosystems provide life-altering benefits like clean air and water, and food security for millions of people, but they must be protected. Our Rangers provide security and create safe places so ecosystems can function and support people and wildlife. Once poaching and other illegal threats are prevented, wildlife numbers can rise and key species that were once lost, can be reintroduced.

Socio-Political: Where wildlife thrive, people thrive

Well-managed parks can reap dividends for communities who need them the most. Our model ensures government and community representation on each park Board so they can participate in management decisions. We support schools, cover teacher salaries, deploy medical units, and we invest in sustainable livelihoods to build a constituency for conservation who will be responsible for the future of these wild places.

Economic: Building a conservation-led economy

An effectively managed national park generates revenue whether from job creation, tourism or other sustainable development projects that are compatible with conservation. As more jobs are created, more salaries and taxes are paid. Ultimately these well-run protected areas can stimulate a conservation-led economy, changing human lives while ensuring for the long-term survival of the park.

Realising Hope in Malawi

Founded in 2000, it took African Parks three years of negotiations with the Malawian Government to secure a mandate for the first park - Majete Wildlife Reserve. With a 25-year management agreement in place, we overhauled law enforcement, initiated community engagement programmes and reintroduced over 3,200 animals from 16 different species to restore the reserve after decades of poaching. Pleased with Majete's transformation, the Government invited us to assume management of both Liwonde National Park and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in 2015. Since then we have progressed to managing four protected areas in Malawi, protecting 90% of it's elephants and 100% of its rhinos.

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2000: African Parks was founded by Dr Anthony Hall-Martin, Peter Fearnhead, Michael Eustace, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Mavuso Msimang to create a new paradigm for protected area management.

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2003: It took three years of negotiations with the Malawian Government to secure a mandate for the first park - Majete Wildlife Reserve. By the 1990s, decades of lawlessness had eradicated the reserve’s wildlife. Not one tourist had made their way to the park since 2000, and only 12 scouts were employed. But in 2003 we signed a 25-year management agreement with the Government to prove that effective management could revive even a seriously degraded park.

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2012: After overhauling law enforcement and engaging with communities, by 2012 Majete became Malawi's only Big 5 reserve after rhinos and buffalo were reintroduced in 2003, elephants in 2006, leopards in 2011, and lions in 2012. Giraffe followed in 2018 and cheetahs in 2019. Overall, we brought in more than 3,200 animals from 16 different species.

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2013: Majete launched its first livelihood programme and trained 96 beekeepers. By 2019 the programme had 732 registered beekeepers. Over the last 17 years Majete's employment has increased ten-fold, and more than 84,000 tourists have visited the park, with 79% from Malawi, generating more than US$3.6M in tourism revenue.

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2015: the Malawian Government was so pleased with Majete’s transformation, we were invited to manage Liwonde National Park and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. Both were in terminal states of decline, with Liwonde harbouring more wire snares than large mammals, and Nkhotakota’s once 1,500 elephant herd reduced to fewer than 100.

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2015 - 2016: In preparation for the historic 500 Elephant translocation, intensive Ranger training and snare removal ensued in both Liwonde and Nkhotakota, and perimeter fences were constructed to keep wildlife in and illegal activity out.

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2016 - 2017: 490 elephants were moved (336 from Liwonde and 154 from Majete) to reduce conflict and pressure on habitats, and to ecologically revive Nkhotakota and boost tourism. A year later, in 2018, we signed on Mangochi Forest Reserve, contiguous to Liwonde, expanding our footprint there by 60%.

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2019: Today we have four parks under our management, spanning 3,477km2, and 90% of Malawi’s elephants and 100% of its rhinos under our protection. In 17 years, Malawi has emerged as a conservation leader in Africa, through both the rehabilitation of their parks and the strengthening of their wildlife laws and policies showing their commitment to protecting their wildlife for their people.

Read what our President, Chairman & CEO have to say about 2019

Letter from the President│Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Read Now
Chairman’s Message│Robert-Jan van Ogtrop
Read Now
CEO’s Letter & Executive Summary│Peter Fearnhead
Read Now

Realising Hope

Since our beginnings, we have stayed true to our mission – effectively managing protected areas for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Our Portfolio

2019: By the Numbers

Ecological: What is not protected will be lost

Socio-Political: Where wildlife thrive, people thrive

Economic: Building a conservation-led economy

View The Report

Realising Hope in Malawi

Read what our President, Chairman & CEO have to say about 2019

Letter from the President│Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

Chairman’s Message│Robert-Jan van Ogtrop

CEO’s Letter & Executive Summary│Peter Fearnhead

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