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A mother elephant and young calf walking together on dry ground in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley

Zambezi Elephant Fund

As recently as 1930, Africa was home to some 10 million elephants. Over the years, conflict and poaching, due largely to the ivory trade, have placed this iconic species in real danger. The Zambezi Valley is one of the continent’s last strongholds. And even here, poaching has reduced the population by 60 percent. Zambezi Elephant Fund puts boots on the ground to fight poaching. They fund ranger training and supply patrol equipment. They provide and maintain a fleet of Land Cruisers and fund critically important aircraft surveillance. 

Deeper Africa’s Zimbabwe safaris support the Zambezi Elephant Fund and the vital conservation work being done to protect elephants in the Zambezi Valley. When you travel with us to Zimbabwe, whether on our Classic Zimbabwe safari or our Zimbabwe With Kids trip. Your journey contributes to ranger training, anti-poaching patrols, and aircraft surveillance that are keeping this elephant population alive. Seeing elephants in the wild on a Deeper Africa safari is inseparable from the effort to ensure they are still there for future generations

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This short film tells the story of the Zambezi Elephant Fund and the fight to protect elephants in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley. It covers the scale of the poaching crisis, the rangers working on the ground, and how ecotourism and donor support are funding the effort to reverse decades of population decline.

The Elephant Poaching Crisis in Zimbabwe

Over a thirteen-year period, poaching reduced the elephant population of the Zambezi Valley by 60 percent — one of the most severe wildlife declines in southern Africa. The crisis was driven by international demand for ivory, turning wildlife rangers into frontline combatants against well-armed poaching networks. The Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit alone has removed over 20,000 wire snares and investigated more than 250 elephant carcasses.

The Zambezi Valley encompasses Mana Pools National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its remoteness makes it critical habitat — and extremely difficult to protect without aircraft surveillance.

Anti-Poaching Operations

ZEF funds the people and equipment that make protection possible: ranger training programmes, a fleet of Land Cruisers for ground patrols, and aircraft surveillance covering terrain that would take days to cover on foot. Partner organisations include the Tashinga Initiative, the Zambezi Society, and the Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit.

Community Coexistence Programmes

Sustainable conservation requires addressing the human dimension. Communities living adjacent to Mana Pools bear the daily costs of living alongside wildlife — crop raiding, livestock losses. ZEF funds coexistence programmes that give communities a real stake in the survival of the animals around them, turning potential adversaries into conservation allies.

How Your Deeper Africa Safari Contributes

Every Deeper Africa Zimbabwe safari contributes directly to ZEF’s anti-poaching operations. The Classic Zimbabwe safari visits Hwange National Park and Mana Pools — the heart of ZEF’s operating area. The Zimbabwe With Kids safari gives families a direct connection to conservation work that is ongoing and real. The elephants you come to see are the same ones ZEF’s rangers are protecting.

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Zambezi Elephant Fund

Zambezi Elephant Fund anti-poaching ranger standing by a river in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
A lone African elephant walking through misty woodland in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley
A baby African elephant in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe
A mother elephant and young calf walking together on dry ground in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley
A mother elephant and young calf walking together on dry ground in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley
A team of Zambezi Elephant Fund anti-poaching rangers gathered at a vehicle for a patrol briefing in Zimbabwe
ZEF-funded anti-poaching rangers walking on foot patrol through bush in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley
A Zambezi Elephant Fund ranger standing beside a ZEF anti-poaching patrol vehicle in Zimbabwe

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