OVERVIEW
Chizarira National Park
Chizarira is one of Zimbabwe’s last great wilderness strongholds, stretching across the dramatic Zambezi escarpment where rugged valleys and vast miombo woodlands create one of the country’s most striking landscapes. Covering roughly 2,000 square kilometres of escarpment, deep valleys, and woodland descending toward the Zambezi basin, it sits within the greater Zambezi Valley ecosystem, a transboundary corridor that supports elephants, lions, leopards, and wild dogs across international borders.
After more than three decades without consistent conservation management, the park entered a structured recovery phase. The work pairs park protection with real investment in the communities who share the landscape, proving that large-scale protected area recovery is possible while creating meaningful employment and restoring pride and ownership in a place left behind for decades.
OUR FOCUS
An integrated five-pillar model
The approach in Chizarira is built on five connected pillars that protect wildlife while improving the quality of life for the communities who share the landscape. The work is anchored by a 20-year mandate with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and Defend, which lets investment support durable outcomes rather than short project cycles.
Landscape protection
Strengthening park protection systems, ranger capacity, patrol vehicles, field equipment, and conservation infrastructure.
Community development
Investing in healthcare, education, water access, and infrastructure for surrounding communities.
Women's empowerment
Expanding opportunities for women as leaders, entrepreneurs, and agents of community stability.
Wildlife crime rangers
A dedicated unit that builds information networks and disrupts organised wildlife crime.
Local employment
Creating conservation-linked livelihoods that provide sustainable income for local residents.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why this project matters
- One of Zimbabwe’s largest and most rugged national parks, home to elephant, lion, leopard, and numerous endangered species.
- More than three decades of neglect left it exposed to poaching and degradation; it is now in structured recovery.
- Surrounding communities face extreme poverty, so conservation and social investment must advance together.
- Protecting Chizarira safeguards a far larger ecosystem stretching across southern Africa through connected, migratory corridors.
PROTECTION AND COMMUNITY IMPACT
Security and wellbeing advancing together
Ranger teams maintain a continuous conservation presence across vast and rugged terrain, responding to illegal incursions, supporting fire and habitat management, and gathering field information. Rather than duplicating patrols, teams deploy strategically with trusted community-based information networks, mapping crime hotspots and supporting targeted enforcement. A K9 conservation unit of nine dogs increases detection and tracking effectiveness.
Conservation success depends on the wellbeing of the people who live closest to nature. Many communities around Chizarira face long travel distances to healthcare, shortages of classrooms and teaching materials, and water sources that can be up to ten kilometres away. The programme invests directly in rural clinics, classroom blocks, and borehole systems across nine locations.
Key metrics
A concise view of the scale, outcomes, and investment needed for this programme.
2,000 km2
Critical wilderness
Roughly 494,000 acres in the Greater Zambezi Valley ecosystem.
20 years
Landscape mandate
Under the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
347
Patrols conducted
In the past year, with 1,528 snares removed and 40 arrests.
21,220 km
Patrol distance
Covered over 2,790 field nights.
500 g
Cyanide recovered
Preventing mass wildlife poisoning.
103
New jobs by 2028
Alongside 110 existing staff.
12,000
People nearby
Living in communities surrounding the park.
10+
Community projects
Priority projects underway across the landscape.
DELIVERY AND INVESTMENT
Investment and growth trajectory
The programme follows a phased trajectory, building operational capacity within Chizarira first, then expanding geographic scope across the wider landscape. The 2026 operational budget is USD 2,421,440, with an initial six-month scale-up phase of USD 1,210,720. Major allocations include park protection and operations, vehicles and field mobility, and community engagement.
With improved security, wildlife populations are beginning to recover, and Chizarira’s vast intact habitats offer prime conditions for the long-term restoration of species such as elephant, lion, and even black rhino. The phased expansion is being scoped into the neighbouring Chirisa Safari Area as the next step toward one larger contiguous ecosystem across the Zambezi Valley.
- 2026: USD 2,421,440 to establish operational capacity and key systems.
- 2027: USD 3,370,515, including a USD 150,000 scoping initiative for the adjacent Chirisa Safari Area.
- 2028: USD 5,033,285, including a USD 750,000 launch of operations in Chirisa.
OUR PARTNERS
Partnerships
Delivered in partnership with Defend and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, under a 20-year landscape mandate.
Get involved
Chizarira is not just a park; it is a symbol of how recovery is possible. We invite partners and donors to help secure one of Africa’s most important wilderness landscapes, and the communities who share it, for generations to come.