Travel Heroes & Heroines
Angola 
Benin 
Chad 
Central African Republic 
Democratic Republic of Congo 
Malawi 
Mozambique 
Republic of Congo 
Rwanda 
Zambia 
Zimbabwe African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. The organisation was founded in 2000 in response to the dramatic decline of protected areas due to poor management and lack of funding.
African Parks utilises a clear business approach to conserving Africa’s wildlife and remaining wild areas, securing vast landscapes and carrying out the necessary activities needed to protect the parks and their wildlife. African Parks maintains a strong focus on economic development and poverty alleviation of surrounding communities to ensure that each park is ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable in the long term.
Their goal is to manage 30 parks by 2030, the geographic spread of protected areas and representation of different eco-regions makes this the largest and most ecologically diverse portfolio of parks under management by any one NGO on the continent.
They currently manage 19 national parks and protected areas in 11 countries covering over 14.7 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – talk to our experts to see their work in action.
Just a decade ago, there were more snares in this park than there were animals. Large mammals were all but wiped out, as cattle grazing and poaching decimated the wilderness in the aftermath of the genocide. In the early 2000s, Akagera was a park in name only. Now, it is East Africa’s newest Big Five park.
Five females and two male lions were translocated from South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal, chosen for their reproductive potential. This is a project managed by African Parks and is a part of a larger effort to promote conservation in Akagera and restore the park to its pre-genocide state, where lions and other big game flourished.
African Parks took over management of the reserve in 2015, ending decades of non-existent law enforcement and rampant poaching. Quickly, they restored the park’s infrastructure and started to protect its boundaries, paving the way for the recovery of its wildlife. In 2016, one of the greatest animal translocations of modern times began.
During 2016 and 2017, more than 500 elephants and 1,200 other large herbivores, including various antelope species, were translocated to the park. This huge project marked a key milestone in Nkhotakota’s road to recovery, increasing the elephant population tenfold in just over a year and transforming the ecosystem.
Who goes further, higher, faster, into the unknown, fights to protect the planet, saves lives, dreams big and ultimately inspires us?
From the blog
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