Malawi-Zambia Corridor Restores Elephant Migration Routes and Reduces Human-Wildlife Conflict

A historic wildlife corridor linking Kasungu National Park in Malawi with Lukusuzi in Zambia is being restored after decades of fragmentation caused by settlement expansion, farming, and poaching. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is leading the effort under its Room to Roam initiative, which aims to reconnect elephant habitats across national borders while protecting the livelihoods of people living along migration routes.

In the 1940s, colonial authorities designated corridors to allow elephants to move freely between the two protected areas. Over the following six decades, resettlement schemes and population growth converted woodland into farmland, severing the routes. By 2015, poaching had reduced Kasungu's elephant population from roughly 1,000 to about 50, a decline of nearly 95%.

At Malawi's request, IFAW supported new ranger training, intelligence units, and cross-border law enforcement. Poaching in Kasungu nearly ceased, and in 2022 wildlife officials translocated 263 elephants from Liwonde National Park to Kasungu. Elephants subsequently returned to eastern Zambia for the first time in more than 50 years.

The recovery brought new challenges: about 15,000 people live within key migration routes, and crop raiding and granary damage became common. To address this, conservationists fitted satellite collars to 31 elephant matriarchs, each leading a herd of roughly ten animals. Trackers alert mobile response teams when herds approach farmland, giving families time to react.

Local volunteers organized as Primary Response Teams sound alarms when collared elephants near villages. Rapid Response Units then use firecrackers or warning shots to guide elephants back toward the park, while community members employ traditional deterrents such as fires and drums. Solar-powered electric fencing strung between trees creates protected zones around vulnerable fields, and sturdy cement granaries — modeled on successful designs from Zambia's Luangwa Valley — secure stored grain.

Schools have joined the effort; in Zambia's Lumezi district, one school holds weekly safety talks for around 1,700 students, with warning signs and guidance to help children avoid dangerous encounters. Attitudes are shifting: farmers who once sought retaliation now view coexistence as achievable, and community volunteers describe themselves as mediators between people and elephants.

The project demonstrates the potential of transboundary conservation. Roughly 76% of Africa's elephants live in habitats that cross national borders, according to IFAW research on the Malawi-Zambia landscape. Zambian and Malawian officials now coordinate across the border to apprehend wildlife traffickers who previously exploited jurisdictional gaps, while rangers assist farmers with crop protection.

Work remains unfinished. Fencing and granaries require ongoing funding, and trust between communities and elephants takes time to build. However, each restored corridor represents a step toward a landscape where both humans and elephants can thrive, using paths that predate modern borders.