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Update from our wildlife volunteering Malawi expedition
Our expedition has come to an end. Thank you to all citizen scientists and partners from LWT. Here are some early results. Final ones will be in the expedition report once Lea and the LWT researchers have processed and analysed all the data and pictures.
Continue reading “Wildlife volunteering Malawi 2026: Farewell”Update from our wildlife conservation Malawi expedition
The temperature has been steadily climbing as we move deeper into the dry season. It is hot! Lake Kazuni is showing obvious signs of water loss as levels drop. And the distance between the lake road and the water’s edge is growing significantly each day. This means less space for each hippo family and results in some of them moving further west and outside our transect. Interestingly, daily counts remain similar, which suggests that lower water levels help our research by revealing more individuals.
Continue reading “Wildlife conservation Malawi 2026: Hippos”Update from our African biodiversity conservation Malawi expedition
It’s been five days now since we saw any elephants out in the open. They seem to have altered their habit of coming by camp in the afternoon, taking a bath in the river close by and feeding on their favourite trees behind the staff tents.
Continue reading “African biodiversity conservation Malawi 2026: Elephants”Update from our biodiversity conservation Malawi expedition
Farewell to our first group of citizen scientist who leave with the satisfaction of a job well done.
102 species identified on iNaturalist, 811 hippos counted, 43 bird species identified, 6 new elephant identifications, 2 leopards captured on camera traps, the first aardvark and lions since 2018!
Continue reading “Leopard conservation Malawi 2026: Sundowners”Update from our leopard conservation Malawi expedition
We placed and are monitoring 21 cameras in positions across the reserve. We have 14 at sites we utilise every year and a further 7 that we move around dependent on sightings or signs of specific animals.
Continue reading “Leopard conservation Malawi 2026: Aardvark to vervet”Update from our elephant conservation Malawi expedition
We are now in the groove of field work and data collection, much helped by the generous actions of the Vwaza wildlife.
Continue reading “Elephant conservation Malawi 2026: Big beasts”
There is something exciting about walking through a forest knowing that wolves are somewhere out there, even if you don’t see one. Suddenly, a set of paw prints or a piece of scat is no longer something you just walk past. It is evidence, and learning how to find and interpret that evidence is at the heart of Biosphere Expeditions’ Germany wolf project in Germany.
Continue reading “What Volunteering With Wolves in Germany Is Really Like”Update from our lion conservation Malawi expedition
We have been busy. Bird transects, elephant counts, hippo transects, elephant dung analysis and camera trapping.
We start early with dawn drives or the bird transects. 05:00 up and out. Back for one of Luka’s amazing breakfasts (pancakes are popular) and then out again. Either on foot for the Hippo transects or into the vehicles for elephant counts. The elephants paid a 03:00 visit to camp this morning too.
Continue reading “Lion conservation Malawi 2026: Lights, camera, action!”Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, lion and African biodiversity
The expedition team reached base on Saturday after a 450 km bus journey and a mishap 1.5 km from base. The bus git stuck, but no problem – we dispatched a vehicle recovery team and got to practice our skills.
Continue reading “Wildlife conservation Malawi 2026: Underway”Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, lion and African biodiversity
Us staffers (see picture) got together in Lilongwe to load up supplies for a month and trying to leave enough room for the five of us! All went well until four hours into the journey to Vwaza master chef Luka announced that we needed another half-tonne of fresh veg….
Continue reading “Malawi African biodiversity study 2026: At base”