Family herds darted for transport to new national park home in Malawi
MOVING AN ELEPHANT IS A complicated business – first you have to locate the animal in a remote area, sedate it via a dart shot from a helicoptor, then use a crane to lift it onto the back of truck.
Consider, then, the effort and logistics involved in July when African Parks and partners translocated 263 elephants between Liwonde and Kasungu national parks in Malawi. The move took place to ease pressure caused by the growing elephant population in Liwonde, which is a relatively small park surrounded by human settlements.
Translocations – African Parks has also moved lions, rhinos and cheetahs in the past – tend to be to parks where wildlife populations have been diminished but are now safe enough to repopulate, thanks to better management of security and community relationships. Operations of this size might look chaotic but are anything but, instead meticulously planned to ensure the long-term wellbeing of every elephant family.
MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER
“It all happens very quickly”
For Swedish photographer Marcus Westberg, the main challenge of photographing an event like this was that, “You have zero choice when it comes to location and light, and it all happens very quickly”. Westberg’s usual preference for “clean, minimalist” shots goes out the window as he tries to do his job in the midst of a huge team effort.