Malawi tourism industry received a major boost when African Parks, one of the non-profit organizations that is involved in wildlife conservation, was awarded €2.6 million by the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The reward, which was awarded to the organization for the restoration of the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve and Liwonde National Park will be of great help to the country's effort to transform local wildlife.
According to African Parks, the sum received will be used to fund further restoration and protection of the two wildlife sanctuaries, which are both protected wildlife areas. The money will also be used to fund other conservancy projects, for example, the migration of about 500 elephants currently living in Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. The project will help to restock their population in the reserve, since their numbers have been under threat due to rampant poaching.
In addition to wildlife restoration and protection, the award offered to African Parks will also be used to promote economic development of the communities living nearby Nkhotakota and Liwonde wildlife areas. This will help to create employment, provide education, and deliver better social services, and thus help to reduce the human-wildlife conflict in these areas, which has been one of the major reasons why the wildlife population has been reducing in Malawi.
In addition, the economic development and improved social services will help to create more tourism opportunities in these areas.
With regards to the cash reward, African Parks noted that it will go a long way in helping to improve the wildlife experience offered by the country. This, in combination with the landscape and the culture will help to complete Malawi tourism experience, and allow the country to compete favorably with other tourism markets in the region.
