Our Malilangwe

Before Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve was established, the land was run as a cattle ranch, known as Lone Star Ranche. This beautiful tract of wilderness in the south-east Lowveld was acquired in 1949 by a young Raymond Sparrow. It was Ray’s wish to be a pioneer of the Lowveld and he was granted the right to cattle ranching land. The area was fiercely wild and remote with no roads nor bridges. Whilst walking up a dry riverbed with his tracker, Ray decided that a craggy gorge would be an ideal site to build a dam wall and in 1963, Ray and his family built the Malilangwe Dam, which at the time was acknowledged as being the largest private dam in Rhodesia.

Lone Star became a successful cattle ranch, but gradually turned to wildlife. When the last of the cattle herds was driven out in 1985, the transition to wildlife-based land-use commenced and over time, cattle were removed. The Malilangwe Trust purchased the ranch in 1994 and began the key objective of restoring its historic biodiversity. To this end several species that had become locally extinct were reintroduced, including black and white rhinoceros.

We have a healthy population of endangered black and white rhino, one of the largest populations in Zimbabwe. The suite of predators on the reserve, including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena and wild dog, keep the abundant herbivore population in check.

When you hear the heart-pounding roar of a territorial lion, the sawing call of a patrolling leopard, the midnight laughter of the hyena, and the boisterous shouting of baboons, you will know the feelings that the first humans, our ancestors, had as they began the ascent of humanity on these very savannas.

Malilangwe Dam is home to several fish species, including the famous tigerfish, as well as hosting healthy populations of hippo, crocodile and water birds. During the summer months, elephant breeding herds regularly enjoy leisurely swims at the top end of the dam.

The basalt flats in the south of the property offer nutritious grazing for the herbivore population, with herds of 500 buffalo not an uncommon sight in the dry season.

You can find more than 400 species of birds here. In February, hordes of quelea arrive in huge colonies to nest. In June, purple rollers come from the Mozambique plains. In November we welcome the woodland kingfishers from West Africa and, from the Asian steppes, magnificent migratory eagles and falcons. A total of 60 raptor species have been recorded on the reserve, including 11 species of owl. It is an extraordinary gathering of birds of prey.