Habitat & Wildlife Protection

WAG rangers protect the forest and its wildlife which is crucial for the health and wellbeing of our planet.

Law Enforcement

WAG is responsible for the law enforcement of two forest reserves, Thuma and Dedza Salima Escarpment.

Law enforcement is a critical element of ensuring the long-term security of the forests and the wildlife that live there. In doing so, this also provides safety and security to the people living close to the reserves.

Ranger Patrols

WAG’s team of highly skilled and dedicated rangers carry out patrols on foot across the forests every day of the year. They detect and control illegal activities affecting wildlife and their habitat.

Protecting the forest becomes more of a serious challenge as Malawi’s population continues to grow. The associated increased need for land and fuel is directly linked to illegal charcoal production, plank cutting, logging, commercial firewood, bamboo collecting and encroachment into forest land for agricultural use.

Rangers are armed and have the mandate to make immediate arrests, as required.

Ranger Training

Training is essential to develop and maintain a highly skilled team.

Regular appraisals identify any capacity gaps, and rangers’ receive regular refresher training in anti-poaching, tracking, leadership, weapon handling, train the trainer and more.

Snare Removal

Snares are a severe threat for areas right across Africa because they are cheap, easy to make, and indiscriminate in the species they catch.

They are usually made from a simple piece of wire placed along tracks and close to water sources within the forests to trap, maim and kill wildlife.

This form of poaching is one of the most brutal, causing a slow and painful death, or long term injuries.

Our rangers continuously sweep the forests looking for snares and collect any they find.

Intelligence & Investigation

Our intelligence unit is pivotal in investigating wildlife and environmental crimes related to the reserves.

This is supported by an informer network that greatly assists in increasing the number of arrests.

Wildlife Justice

WAG supports the local police, prosecution and judiciary services on every arrest case to ensure due diligence and positive outcomes are achieved.

Due to close collaboration and sharing of information, we are seeing a signiﬁcant increase in positive court outcomes. This is proving to be a strong deterrent to potential poachers.

Rescue & Release Wildlife

Malawi is under many threats, such as the illegal pet trade.
Animals like Sully, the baby monkey, can become victims of this.

Sully was lucky to be rescued by WAG and is now being rehabilitated so he can be released back into the wild.

Thuma Forest Reserve is a perfect haven to release rehabilitated wildlife. Animals such as crocodiles, hedgehogs, duikers, snakes and tortoises are just a few of the species that have been released here.

Animal Welfare

Any animal found suffering is given immediate attention.

Elephants can carry horriﬁc injuries at the mercy of snares. Darting them to safely remove the wire gives them a chance to recover.