The Great Plains Foundation, the conservation and community charity founded by Great Plains' founders, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, has announced a new rewilding initiative in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley.

In one of the largest wildlife relocations, Project Rewild Zambezi will see 3,000 animals moved from Zimbabwe's Savé Valley Conservancy to Great Plains' 280,000-acre private Sapi Reserve.

The reserve is located at the heart of the UNESCO world heritage site, including Mana Pools and Great Plain's newest camp Tembo Plains.

Images : Beverly Joubert

A combination of overpopulation at source due to years of drought and underpopulation at Target (Sapi Reserve) has led Great Plains to advance plans to restore, rewild and protect this essential ecosystem.

The initial consignment of animals includes 400 elephants and iconic species like lions, buffalo, impala, zebras, painted dogs and eland.

Once released in the Sapi Reserve (with wildebeest and giraffe into other regions of Zimbabwe,) the animals will be free to roam into the broader 1.6 million acres of the UNESCO site.

Great Plains is working on expanding its ranger operations in Sapi at the same time to protect this influx of wildlife, prevent human-wildlife conflict, and support broader wildlife monitoring and anti-poaching in the Zambezi Valley.

Tembo Plains Camp

Tembo Plains Camp is located in a thick riverine forest on the edge of the Zambezi River, within the private 128,000-hectare Sapi Private Reserve, east of Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park.

Painted dogs (wild dogs), lions and leopards are common around Tembo Plains, while buffalo are regularly seen up and down, and sometimes swimming the Zambezi River itself, as are elephants.