Kavango Zambezi
Transfrontier Conservation Area

The world’s largest land-based transfrontier conservation area

Kavango Zambezi, widely known as KAZA, spans the point at which Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet. Across approximately 520 000 km², it connects 36 proclaimed protected areas with forests, wildlife management areas, community conservancies and some of Africa’s most important river systems.

Key Facts

Countries

Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Area

Approximately 520 000 km²

Formal establishment

Treaty signed in 2011

Protected-area network

36 proclaimed protected areas

Defining natural features

The Kavango and Zambezi river basins, including the Okavango Delta and Victoria Falls

History and Establishment

2006

The scale of the idea is tested

Peace Parks appointed to undertake the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) feasibility study.

7 December 2006

Five countries set a common direction

The partner countries sign a MoU to establish the world’s largest transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) and appoint the KAZA Secretariat to steer its development.

2008

Plans begin to move into practice

MoU signed to commence establishment of TFCA and Peace Parks appointed as implementing agent for German Government Funding

18 August 2011

A vast landscape becomes one

The heads of state of the five partner countries sign the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area Treaty during the SADC Summit in Angola.

22 October 2012

Traditional leadership opens new ground

Chief Sekute and Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta establish the Simalaha Community Conservancy, spanning the Sekute and Sesheke chiefdoms.

2013

Wildlife begins to reclaim its range

A rewilding programme is established to develop Simalaha as a tourist destination and re-establish wildlife populations and their migration patterns in KAZA TFCA.

2013

Farming adapts to the landscape

Conservation agriculture projects are launched in Simalaha to ensure food security and improve farming methods.

2014

A wetland takes its place on the world stage

Botswana’s Okavango Delta became the thousandth site inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

2014

A hidden journey comes to light

Research by Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation proves that a population of zebra undertake the longest big-mammal migration in Africa along a 500 km round-trip route in an almost direct north-south axis between Namibia and Botswana in KAZA TFCA.

2015

Protection begins to cross borders

Angola, Namibia and Zambia start joint law enforcement operations,which yield good results.

2016

One plan brings five countries together

The KAZA TFCA master integrated development plan (IDP) is approved by the partner countries. Along with the five country IDPs, it guides the development of the TFCA.

8 April 2016

A long-standing relationship is secured

The KAZA Secretariat and Peace Parks Foundation signs a memorandum of understanding to formalise their long-standing cooperation and partnership in the development of KAZA TFCA.

2016

Travel across the landscape becomes easier

The KAZA univisa, first introduced as a one-year pilot project in November 2014, was relaunched in December 2016. The visa allows visitors access to Zambia and Zimbabwe for the duration of one month. It also covers access to Botswana for day trips through the Kazungula border post.

17 December 2021

Presidential support grows

Peace Parks Foundation is honoured to welcome the President of Zambia, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema, as its newest Patron. In graciously accepting the invitation from Peace Parks, President Hichilema voiced steadfast support for the Foundation’s extensive conservation and community development work in the country.

2023

The institution stands on its own

Peace Parks hands over legal base to KAZA Secretariat to function independently.

2024

A new chapter opens in western Zambia

Historic 20-year multi-party partnership agreement between the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) in collaboration with the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE), Peace Parks Foundation and WWF Zambia, to restore and protect Sioma Ngwezi landscape in Zambia.

Why this landscape matters

KAZA is large enough to support ecological processes that no single protected area or country could secure alone. Six wildlife dispersal areas help connect the landscape’s national parks, conservancies and community lands, allowing wildlife to move across borders and between seasonal ranges.

The landscape holds the continent’s largest contiguous elephant population. Along the Kwando River, elephants and other wildlife can still move through largely unfenced areas between Angola, Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. In the Zambezi-Chobe Floodplain, wetlands and community conservation areas provide an important connection between Chobe National Park in Botswana and the wider conservation system extending towards Kafue National Park in Zambia.

KAZA is also home to millions of people. Its long-term future depends on ensuring that conservation contributes to secure land rights, stronger local governance, productive livelihoods and a viable wildlife economy.

Peace Parks’ priority protected areas

Simalaha Community Conservancy, Zambia

Simalaha lies within the Zambezi-Chobe Floodplain wildlife dispersal area. The conservancy was established through the leadership of the Sesheke and Sekhute chiefdoms and combines rewilding with community governance, livestock management, agriculture and nature-based enterprise. Wildlife once lost from the area has been returned, with animals now ranging across the floodplain alongside community-owned cattle

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Sioma Ngwezi Management Complex, Zambia

The Sioma Ngwezi Management Complex includes Sioma Ngwezi National Park and the Zambezi West Game Management Area. It lies within the Kwando wildlife dispersal area and protects a strategically important connection between western Zambia, Angola and Namibia. The area has been recognised and protected by the Barotse Royal Establishment for more than a century.

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BEYOND PROTECTED AREA BOUNDARIES

The spaces between protected areas are part of living landscapes, shaped by the people who call them home and by the wildlife that moves through them. Ecological linkages help keep these landscapes connected across boundaries.

Chobe - Kafue

Sioma - Kafue

Peace Parks in KAZA

Peace Parks supported the feasibility process, institutional development and agreements that led to the establishment of KAZA. In 2023, the legal base created to support the initiative was handed over to the independent KAZA Secretariat.

Our direct operational work is now concentrated in Simalaha, the Sioma Ngwezi Management Complex and the wildlife dispersal areas associated with them. This includes protected-area management, rewilding, ranger support, land and natural-resource governance, and the development of conservation-based livelihoods.

Work taking place now

Strengthening long-term management of the Sioma Ngwezi Management Complex
Restoring wildlife and rangelands in Simalaha
Securing community land and natural-resource governance across priority dispersal areas
Building nature-based income through agriculture, livestock, fisheries, tourism and conservation finance
Supporting cooperation between the countries and institutions responsible for the wider landscape