WVS in the field
We are proud to work in collaboration with African Parks Majete to provide veterinary assistance in Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi, where over 2,000 animals from 17 different species have been reintroduced since 2003. Here, we support the park’s conservation efforts by providing expert veterinary care to the reserve’s wildlife, with a focus on endangered species. This includes supporting with the monitoring of key species such as pangolins, easily recognised due their impressive armour of scales.
Read on to experience what it’s really like to follow the trail of the world’s most trafficked animal:
“We’re very close,” ranger Kim whisper-shouts to the group. “Disperse, search, but stay within sight of each other. Do not wander off. Please.”
He didn’t need to repeat himself. When you’re traveling by foot in big predator country, instinct says there’s safety in numbers.
We’re in Majete Wildlife Reserve, a sprawling, rugged jumble of bush, barely-there rocky roads, steep hills and awe-inspiring vistas over the Shire (pronounced Shee-ree) River. Africa’s big five call this place home, each one the descendant of an individual painstakingly sourced, sedated, transported and reintroduced to the park in an effort to reestablish its wildlife populations once decimated by poaching and habitat destruction for charcoal. From lions to leopards, elephants to rhinos, giraffes to hippos – today, they’re all here. But today we’re not looking for these icons of the savannah. We’re in search of something much smaller and rarely seen in the wild.
A pangolin.
Pushing aside the low hanging branches of a mopane tree, we nervously scan for boomslang, a tree-dwelling snake with a lethal bite. No pangolin here, instead, a neat pile of droppings betrays the real tenant: a rock hyrax. The granite slabs are his fortress, the pellets his latrine. We move on, regrouping.
As we begin a steep descent, Kim and his colleague Tama suddenly drop to their knees, methodically digging with their hands at a cavity at the bottom of a thick tree trunk. We rush to gather around, not a word said. It’s suffocatingly hot, and hordes of ticks are crawling relentlessly up their khaki shorts.
They’ve found him.
With great effort, Kim pulls out a grey, scaled mass. The pangolin has curled into a tight ball, a trademark move and his only defence mechanism. We marvel at his uniqueness - these scales tough enough to withstand a leopard’s bite, yet the very reason his species is the most trafficked animal on earth. Made of keratin — the same material as our nails — these scales are stripped and smuggled through West Africa, bound for markets in Southeast Asia and China, where they’re sold for use in traditional medicine. Before he was seized by police at a local market, this individual was on track to become a grim datapoint: one of more than one million of his kind trafficked in the last decade.
As Kim gently lowers him into a bag and onto the weighing scales, this one is safe. From the moment he arrived at the WVS clinic, desperately dehydrated and malnourished, he has been painstakingly rehabilitated by WVS vets, fitted with a radio tracking device, carefully released into the park, and monitored by the rangers. Today’s mission represents the third of weekly checks to monitor his progress.
“There’s always a risk they will try to leave the park, where they are no longer safe,” explained Kim earlier. “But according to the radio tracker, he seems to be staying within one area far from the fence line.” It is best case scenario. “Now he has found his spot, he’ll stay within a few hundred square metres.”
He is a ground pangolin, one of eight species in the world, and he comes in at a triumphant 10.5 kilos, meaning he has been steadily gaining weight. His radio tracker, secured to one of his scales, is working. His habitat is abundant in food and places to hide. There’s just one final job: painlessly shaving away a tiny piece of scale to be taken back to HQ and sent off for DNA sequencing. This is part of a wider effort to trace the origin of pangolins trafficked through the illicit wildlife trade. It will help inform efforts to protect them, whilst ensuring the genetic diversity of those who survive.
Within minutes he is back in his tree-root hideout, uncoiling to dig with powerful claws, flinging soil behind him as he disappears into secrecy. Little is known about these elusive creatures, but he could live another 15 years here in Majete.
Across Africa, veterinary medicine and conservation meet to protect some of the planet’s most endangered wildlife. Here in Majete, WVS has been working since 2021 alongside African Parks Majete. Together they’ve translocated wild dogs and cheetahs, treated and rehabilitated injured animals, and kept the K9 anti-poaching unit — Milo and Gilly — in top shape. Their presence alone is enough to keep poachers away.
As we begin the two-hour hike back through the bush to the 4x4s, sweat stinging our eyes, the Malawi sun sinks lower. For volunteers and visiting staff, the adventure is drawing to a close. For the Majete team, the work goes on. Tomorrow it’s collaring a wild dog. The next day, checking on a rhino treated last week for major wounds. And after that?
WVS Head Vet Dagmar just smiles. “We always have a plan. But in Malawi, you never know what will happen next.”
Take action for wildlife
If you’re passionate about protecting the incredible wildlife that calls the Majete Wildlife Reserve home, then why not join us as a volunteer – you can experience wildlife monitoring first-hand and be part of crucial conservation efforts. Learn more here. You can also support by making a donation to our wildlife appeal. Your support will make a life-changing difference to wild animals - helping to treat injuries, supply life-saving equipment, and prevent the spread of disease.
