Malawi hails ‘historic’ relocation of 520 elephants

African Parks officials load elephants into a truck, to be translocated from Majete Game Reserve in southern Malawi to Nkhotakota Game Reserve to increase the animal population and boost tourist attraction in the country's central region. -AFP

BLANTYRE: Malawi on Thursday celebrated the successful conclusion of a two-year project moving 520 sedated elephants by truck to a reserve where the animals had been nearly wiped out by poaching.

Described as one of the biggest-ever wildlife translocations, the elephants were transported 350 kilometres (220 miles) from two southern parks to the Nkhotakota reserve in the centre of the country.