In Zimbabwe, IFAW works with Wild is Life to rescue orphaned elephants, rehabilitate them, and guide them on a journey back to life in the wild.
Problem
Across southern Africa, elephants face growing pressure from poaching, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict. When adult elephants are killed or displaced, calves can be left behind without the care they need to survive.
Young elephants rely on their mothers and family group for milk, protection, and social learning during their earliest years. Without that support, orphaned calves struggle to find food, avoid predators, and recover from the trauma of losing their families.
Without intervention, many orphaned elephants would not survive long in the wild.
Solution
In 2012, our partner organisation, Wild is Life, established the Wild is Life Elephant Nursery) the first of its kind in Zimbabwe. Today, we support the team to rescue and rehabilitate elephants orphaned by poaching and human-elephant conflict.
Orphaned elephants typically spend three to five years under the care of Wild is Life. Each elephant receives personalised attention from dedicated keepers, who provide the nutrition, veterinary care, and emotional support they need to recover and grow.
As the elephants mature, they begin the next stage of their journey. So, to find them a home, we worked with government agencies to secure an 85,000-acre habitat in the Panda-Masuie Forest Reserve, transforming a former hunting concession into a protected space where rehabilitated elephants can return to the wild.
At Panda-Masuie, the elephants form social bonds, explore their surroundings, and develop the skills they need to live independently. We also work with local communities to support coexistence and ensure people and elephants can share the landscape safely.
To support this transition, conservation teams use satellite tracking collars to monitor elephant movements across the reserve and surrounding areas. These insights help researchers understand how rehabilitated elephants explore the landscape, reconnect with wild ecosystems, and navigate areas where people and wildlife share space.
Impact
IFAW and Wild is Life are giving orphaned elephants a future.
Calves that once faced little chance of survival are growing into healthy adolescents and beginning new lives beyond the nursery. Several elephants have already been reintroduced into the Panda-Masuie Forest Reserve, where they are forming social groups and adapting to life in a protected wild landscape.
The transformation of Panda-Masuie into a nature reserve has secured 85,000 acres of critical habitat, supporting not only rehabilitated elephants but a wide range of wildlife. As part of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA)—one of the largest conservation landscapes on Earth—this work contributes to a much broader vision for connected ecosystems.
Insights from post-release monitoring are helping conservation teams protect key habitats, understand elephant movement across the landscape, and reduce potential conflict between people and wildlife.
Together, these efforts help restore elephant families, protect vital habitat, and advance IFAW’s Room to Roam vision—ensuring elephants have the space and protection they need to move safely across connected landscapes.
Every problem has a solution, every solution needs support.