Liwonde National Park

Liwonde National Park is one of Malawi’s most remarkable conservation success stories. Managed by African Parks in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, this thriving landscape of floodplains and woodlands has seen wildlife populations rebound dramatically since 2015. Endangered species including cheetah, lion, black rhino and wild dog have been reintroduced, while elephants and other wildlife now flourish once more. 

In 2018, African Parks extended its management partnership to incorporate the connected 358km² Mangochi Forest Reserve, bringing the total protected area to 903km² and strengthening conservation for elephants, leopards, and many other species. Together, Liwonde National Park and Mangochi Forest Reserve support landscape-scale biodiversity recovery while providing local communities with benefits including education, healthcare, and sustainable livelihoods such as beekeeping and chilli farming.

NatureSpy is proud to support Liwonde National Park with trail camera equipment to help monitor wildlife and strengthen ongoing conservation efforts. These cameras assist rangers and researchers in tracking species presence and behaviour, contributing to the protection of one of southern Africa’s most vibrant ecosystems.

In the past 5 years, trail camera monitoring has been limited to Liwonde National Park’s road network. With new equipment, the conservation team can now deploy trail cameras more widely during day-to-day fieldwork, reaching remote parts of the park. Cameras are being set up at waterholes, game trails, burrows and other key locations to monitor priority species including black rhino, lion, cheetah, African wild dog, spotted hyena, elephant, pangolin, vultures and rare antelope.

These deployments will help identify individual animals, track movements and build a clearer picture of how wildlife uses the landscape. Any signs of poaching or illegal activity captured will also be passed to Law Enforcement teams to inform patrols and improve protection efforts.

Liwonde National Park is now launching a trail camera project in the northern corridor of the national park to establish a permanent monitoring network. This will document species presence, track identifiable individuals such as elephants and large carnivores, and reveal wildlife population dynamics and movement between Liwonde National Park and Mangochi Forest Reserve.

The monitoring network will also help to identify barriers to natural dispersal, provide actionable intelligence for law enforcement, and assess wider landscape connectivity. These insights will guide long-term management, from predator conservation to planning patrol routes and improving protected area links across the region.

NatureSpy is supporting Liwonde National Park by providing trail camera equipment and technical guidance to help the conservation team monitor wildlife across the park. To reliably capture clear footage in a variety of locations, we’ve supplied a mix of versatile cameras tailored to the project’s needs.

These include the NatureSpy Helarctos, which produces high-quality 4K footage and is ideal for long-term deployments thanks to its built-in solar panel, and the Browning Recon Force Elite HP5, valued by conservation projects for its lightning-fast detection circuit and sharp image capture.

With this equipment, the team can monitor priority species such as black rhino, lion, cheetah, wild dog, hyena, elephants, and rare antelope, track individual animals, and gather vital information on movements and behaviour across remote areas.

The cameras also provide valuable insights for law enforcement by capturing any signs of poaching or illegal activity, helping to inform patrol planning and strengthen protection efforts.