Cuatir Conservation Area, ANGOLA — On Sept. 2, a team from Namibia’s Okonjati Game Reserve completed the last of four arduous translocations, taking a total of 26 elephants across the border to Cuatir Conservation Area in Angola. The 200-square-kilometer (77-square-mile) Cuatir Conservation Area, set up by Namibian-born conservationist Stefan van Wyk, is possibly the only private conservation area currently in Angola. “I think Stefan is creating something new in Angola,” says Miguel Xavier, director of Angola’s National Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (INBAC). “We don’t have this kind of structure in Angola, personally, I think it’s a good opportunity.” The conservation and ecotourism potential of southeastern Angola has been an increasingly hot topic in recent years among conservationists looking to create space for wildlife, and among Angolan leaders peering across the border at the tourism dollars pouring into Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Elephants at Okanjati Game Reserve in Namibia. Image by Jim Tan for Mongabay. An elephant takes its first steps onto Cuatir Conservation Area. Image by Jim Tan for Mongabay. Wildlife populations in the vast Cuando Cubango province in southeastern Angola were decimated during the nation’s 27-year civil war. Since the war, which ended in 2002, the province has remained sparsely populated, in large part due to poor access; the 360-kilometer (220-mile) journey from Mavinga to the provincial capital of Menongue often takes well over 12 hours in a six-wheel truck. Southeastern Angola offers a rare opportunity of available space for wildlife in an increasingly crowded world. Private conservation…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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