Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation & the fight for a more sustainable planet

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”

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”

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, lion and African biodiversity

Welcome to the 2026 Malawi diary. My name is Simon and I will be your expedition leader on this African biodiversity expedition to Malawi studying elephants, lions, hippos and other species.

I arrived on Sunday and met with our in-country partners, the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT). On Tuesday we all head to our camp in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve to get everything ready for the arrival of African biodiversity survey team 1 on Saturday. I hope your preparations are going well and you are excited about the expedition.

Continue reading “Malawi African biodiversity study 2026: Getting ready”