Mvabvi Wildlife Reserve

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) entered into a partnership arrangement with Project African Wilderness (PAW) over the shared management of Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve in February 2007. Mwabvi is approximately 135km2 in size and accessed through Bangula.

The Reserve is endowed with a number of special features that make it attractive to visitors. Among these are the Mwabvi River and Gorge, Mwalawankhunda and Nkhangane rock. It also boasts of pristine mopane woodland that is incomparable to any other areas.

Despite its beauty, Mwabvi has not had any meaningful development. The partnership between DNPW and PAW is, therefore to bring orderly development involving construction of tourism facilities, roads, road signs, water supplies, staff housing and a boundary fence. The completion of the fence, will pave way for a game reintroduction programme. The desire is to recreate Mwabvi with a diversity of indigenous animals.

The DNPW and PAW have a strong desire to complement the Malawi Government’s effort along the Shire-Zambezi Waterway by creating recreational opportunities and adding value to Malawi’s tourism potential by upgrading Mwabvi Willife Reserve into one of the finest protected areas in the region. Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve will be a very interesting place to visit in the near future. It will also create jobs and forex for the local communities and the Malawi nation in general.

Leonard Sefu

Director of National Parks & Wildlife

14^th April 2008