Panda Masuie Forest Reserve
Situated within Zimbabwe’s vast KAZA landscape, Panda Masuie Forest Reserve is one of the country’s most important conservation ecosystems. Where wildlife rehabilitation, biodiversity protection, and community coexistence exist together.
Spanning over 34,500 hectares of Miombo–Kalahari woodland, the reserve forms a critical wildlife corridor linking Kazuma Pan and Zambezi National Parks within the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), the world’s largest transboundary conservation landscape.
Panda Masuie is also home to Wild is Life’s elephant rewilding program, where orphaned elephants rescued through the Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery are gradually reintroduced into wild elephant populations.
The reserve protects over 54 large mammal species and more than 400 bird species through supporting anti-poaching operations, habitat restoration, wildlife monitoring, and human-wildlife conflict mitigation.
Working closely with surrounding communities, conservation efforts here also support local employment, education initiatives, clean water access, renewable, and sustainable coexistence programs that help protect both wildlife and people.
FULLER FOREST
Fuller Forest is one of Zimbabwe’s oldest protected teak forest reserves and an ecologically important part of the greater KAZA conservation landscape. Wild is Life has acquired a 25 year lease since 2018 with Forestry Commissions which covers more than 20,300 hectares, the forest serves as a critical wildlife corridor linking the Matetsi Safari Area with broader transboundary ecosystems.
Dominated by Baikiaea plurijuga (Zambezi teak) woodland on Kalahari sands, Fuller Forest protects one of southern Africa’s most valuable dry forest systems. These slow-growing woodlands provide habitat for elephant, buffalo, kudu, sable, giraffe, lion, leopard, hyena, and a rich diversity of birdlife uniquely adapted to teak forest ecosystems.
Wildlife movement through Fuller Forest supports habitat connectivity, natural dispersal, and genetic diversity across the wider KAZA region.
Through our 25 year lease with Forestry Commissions since 2019, Wild is Life supports forest protection, anti-poaching surveillance, wildlife corridor monitoring, biodiversity conservation, and seasonal fire management, while also contributing to local employment and long-term community stewardship of this important landscape.
Kavira Forest
Kavira Forest is one of Zimbabwe’s lesser-known ecologically significant forest reserves, forming part of the greater Hwange–Chizarira and Zambezi ecosystem. Located in the Binga–Hwange region of northwestern Zimbabwe, it plays a very important role in maintaining biodiversity and landscape connectivity across semi-arid conservation areas.
Covering approximately 29,200 hectares, Kavira is a diverse mosaic of miombo and teak woodland, mopane vegetation, river systems, rocky kopjes, and grassland patches. These varied habitats support ecological links between inland forest systems and the Lake Kariba region.
The reserve provides habitat for elephant, buffalo, zebra, kudu, impala, bushbuck, hippo, lion, spotted hyena, jackal species, baboon, civet, genet, mongoose, porcupine, and a wide range of birdlife including hornbills, bee-eaters, martial eagles, bateleurs, and fish eagles along waterways.
As an important biodiversity refuge, Kavira helps sustain wildlife movement and ecosystem resilience in a landscape increasingly affected by fragmentation and climate pressures.
Through our 30 year lease with Forestry Commissions since 2020, Wild is Life supports biodiversity monitoring, anti-poaching operations, habitat protection, fire management, wildlife monitoring, and human-wildlife conflict mitigation, alongside community engagement and sustainable resource use initiatives.
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