Wildlife Action Group

As is the case in so many African countries, the forest was under relentless threat from the huge demand for charcoal, and wildlife was being decimated in the commercial bushmeat and illegal ivory trade.
Wildlife populations, including elephants, were almost depleted and some had become extinct, including lion, rhino, waterbuck and leopard.
Four local men were employed as scouts and anti-poaching patrols commenced.
Since then, their motto has been "more sweat and less poaching” which captures the spirit, dedication and hard work of their team.

In 2007, the adjacent forest reserve, Dedza-Salima Escarpment, was added to their portfolio in order to manage the protection of wildlife which move freely between both reserves.
Today, the organisation is much larger with the majority of staff being a team of dedicated, skilled rangers and village community fence attendants.
Their headquarters are situated deep inside Thuma Forest which enables them to keep their finger on the pulse and react to any issues immediately.
Though they still face many of the same harsh challenges which first sparked Thuma’s journey to recovery, they are continuously seeing incredible improvements on the ground.

Each and every day, they strive to provide the highest level of protection for these important bio-diversity hotspots for the future generation of Malawians.