A Year in Liwonde – Part 3: Securing Liwonde & socially distanced holidays in 2021

Through March we have been publishing a series of articles about all the successes and achievements in Malawi’s iconic Liwonde National Park during 2020. It’s now over 5 years since African Parks took over the management of this reserve, which, with animal translocations, community projects and committed wildlife protection, has come on leaps and bounds! In this third and final article, we look into how African Parks are protecting Liwonde, and how tourism is still possible through the pandemic.

View our first article about African Parks’ conservation success in Liwonde here, and our second article about the fantastic community projects they are involved in here.

Liwonde security at the forefront of African Parks’ minds

Liwonde National Park has been a beacon of success in recent years in the fight against wildlife crime. The security fencing, strict laws and dedication by rangers and patrol teams has resulted in another year with not a single rhino or elephant lost to poaching. It has been nearly 4 years since the last significant poaching event where a key species was lost.

Liwonde and the adjacent Mangochi Forest Reserve also received 228km of freshly graded roads, with 12km of roads gravelled to all weather status. 6km of new roads were built in Mangochi which also received fencing of 19.3km in 2020 (the remaining 30km to be completed early 2021).

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement teams continued to carry out their duties in a professional, safe and dedicated way. All law enforcement staff were retained and planned patrolled were executed. Refresher training is also regularly delivered to park rangers. The law enforcement control room was upgraded, expanded and fenced with full biometric access control to ensure the security and functionality of this important law enforcement coordination hub.

Liwonde National Park’s achievements in becoming a top safari destination have only come from African Parks making security of primary importance over the past four years.

Socially distanced holidays possible in Liwonde

Though COVID-19 has resulted in a huge drop in international visitors to Liwonde National Park in 2020, local tourism has been encouraging as many look to rediscover their own country. A total of 8,800 people visited the park in 2020.

The new Chimwala Bush Camp opened its doors during the pandemic to provide a safe place for visitors to the park that wished to experience a secluded holiday in their own bubble. This socially-distanced and private format of holidaying lead to the camp becoming extremely popular, with all weekends booked from May to December.

Lion and cheetah sightings in Liwonde are extremely common during the dryer months making them a major tourist draw card. One pride of lions spend the majority of their time around Chimwala Bush Camp which added to the popularity of the camp. Game viewing in general has been exceptional which has boosted the profile of the Park as a key tourism destination.