Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) Stories

Vultures are nature’s dedicated waste management specialists; they help with nutrient cycling and even reduce the spread of disease. In the US, we have turkey vultures, black vultures, and endangered California condors, but worldwide we’re currently sharing the planet with 23 vulture species. Vultures typically have bald heads and excellent vision, and some, like the turkey vulture, even have a keen sense of smell. They’re fascinating birds and we’d like to share a few ways we consider vultures to be nature’s influencers.

In Nyae Nyae, nature is more than a provider; it is an integral part of the community. The San people tend to it with reverence, knowing that nature cares for them, just as they care for nature.

The 2022 KAZA Elephant Survey was designed to help estimate elephant numbers, but it also provided other crucial information.

Climate change, shifting land use, and development increasingly isolate the world’s more than 200,000 protected areas.

In Southern Africa, five countries united by a shared vision for conservation undertake an elephant survey of historic proportions

Seven aircraft surveyed over 40,000 miles of southern Africa’s Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) to estimate the number and distribution of Africa’s largest savanna elephant population. The first-ever synchronized transboundary survey took two months, from August 22 to October 28, 2022, to cover what equates to nearly twice the circumference of the globe. The results were just published and found an overall stable and slightly increased population of 227,900 elephants in the region.

In Southern Africa's KAZA region, WWF, its partners, and local communities work together to reduce conflicts with wildlife

In Southern Africa’s massive Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), 20% of Africa’s lions share space with some 2.7 million people—many of whom depend on livestock to survive.

Though the world faces two existential crises—a rapidly warming planet and declining biodiversity—and continues to battle a global pandemic, conservation still made major strides toward protecting wildlife, wild places, and people in 2022.

The first-ever synchronized and coordinated aerial survey of Africa's largest savanna elephant populations is underway in the five countries that make up the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA). Launched in northwest Zimbabwe at the end of August, the survey is undertaken by the five KAZA partner countries—Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—and with support from WWF and other partners.

In Africa, much of the success of wildlife conservation has been tied to income generated from the travel and tourism industry.

Community-driven solutions for people and nature in a changing climate

An international team is working to create a much-needed global ungulate migration atlas to help guide conservation efforts. Ungulates provide most of the prey for the world’s large carnivore and scavenger populations, as well as food and livelihood opportunities for local and Indigenous communities. Their seasonal migrations are necessary for healthy ecosystems and sustaining the animals and people that depend on them.

As seasonal waters ebb and flow, the movements of elephants and other wildlife follow.

Keeping water flowing for people and wildlife in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area will take action at every level. Here's what WWF is doing for it.

As communities try to cope in the short term, the Namibian government, civil society, and passionate conservationists have rallied to help fill the void the pandemic has created.

A new solar-powered borehole is drilled for the Kapau community in Zambia's Sioma Ngwezi National Park. This water source provides the community with several benefits, including reducing the instances of human wildlife conflict (HWC) that were resulting from sharing resources.

In a workshop along a well-traveled elephant path in the Zambian bush, local craftswomen create handcrafted jewelry inspired by their surroundings. Sharing stories and ideas, they work with natural and locally sourced materials from the South Luangwa valley.

Transboundary conservation means countries that share natural resources work together to manage them wisely, for the benefit of all.

In February 2016, our feature journeyed to the heart of the world’s largest trans-boundary conservation area: the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, known as KAZA.

The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) is home to almost half of Africa’s elephants, as well as an array of other animals such as African wild dogs, hippos, rhinos, lions, African buffalo, zebras, crocodiles, and cheetahs. Learn more about KAZA and what WWF is doing for it.

Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA)