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A fin whale captured off the coast of Lüderitz, Namibia, in 2014. Image courtesy of Sara Golaski for the Namibian Dolphin Project.

Sightings off Southern Africa suggest blue and fin whales may be rebounding

David Brown 6 Jul 2026
A farmer in Mwanza district: the Malawi chapter of the Rural Women’s Assembly works to help women like these learn how to practice agroforestry, protect soil health, and secure loans to improve their farms. Image by Swathi Sridharan/ICRISAT via Flick (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Malawi agroecologists see opportunity in Gulf fertilizer supply disruption

Charles Mpaka 3 Jul 2026
An experimental line of orange corn enriched with provitamin A, harvested in Zambia. Photo by CIMMYT via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Zambia’s bumper harvest masks likely food insecurity amid geopolitics and climate threats

Chisapi Kumbutso 3 Jul 2026
African baobab (Adansonia digitata), Chikwawa district, Malawi. Image by Rob Palmer via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Three years after Cyclone Freddy, farms remain under water in Malawi’s Elephant Marsh

Charles Mpaka 26 Jun 2026
Kusile Power Station, South Africa's largest plant at 4,800 MW, on the outskirts of eMalahleni. Image by Joe Walsh for Mongabay.

Failed promises to clean air in South Africa’s coal belt take toll on public health

Joe Walsh 24 Jun 2026
While caracals are classified as species of least concern overall, some populations are seriously declining, with some local extinctions; rodenticides join habitat loss, hunting, conflict with humans and other threats to their survival.

Rodent-killing baits threaten small wild cats and other wildlife

Sean Mowbray 23 Jun 2026
Transvaal Thicktail Scorpion (Parabuthus transvaalicus) is one of the two venomous scorpion species in South Africa whose stings could be fatal to humans

South African authorities thwart smuggling of 150 venomous scorpions, arrest man

Spoorthy Raman 19 Jun 2026
Baboons at the village of Rooi Els, on the outskirts of Cape Town. Image by Barry Christianson for Mongabay.

In South Africa, a village learns to live with baboons — but it may be the exception

Barry Christianson 17 Jun 2026

How one woman’s farm is a model for small-scale farmers in Malawi

Mongabay.com 17 Jun 2026
Banner image: Rhino released into the boma, a large wildlife enclosure, inside Zinave National Park’s rhino sanctuary. Image © Peace Parks Foundation.

Mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades

Shanna Hanbury 12 Jun 2026
Lin Yunhua in a court appearance in May 2026 answering bribery charges. Image courtesy of Lloyd M’bwana.

Malawi officials seek to drop bribery case against illegal wildlife trafficking convict

Charles Mpaka 12 Jun 2026
Train hauling coal between Moatize and Nacala in 2018. Image by Matthias Hille via Wikicommons (CC BY 4.0)

Improved transport opens Mozambique’s forests to new pressures

Mkhululi Chimoio 11 Jun 2026

Two pangolin traffickers in South Africa sentenced to eight years in prison

Spoorthy Raman 10 Jun 2026
Some of the more than 4,000 fishers who make their living in the waterways of Elephant Marsh. Image by Charles Mpaka for Mongabay.

Malawi’s Elephant Marsh: The challenge of protecting a wetland that sustains thousands

Charles Mpaka 8 Jun 2026
The Imbabala mine was abandoned and toxic waste formed a giant pool on the surface, creating dangerous living conditions for the Ermelo community living in the vicinity. Image courtesy of Daylin Paul/Centre for Environmental Rights (CER).

South Africa’s move away from coal marred by legacy of abandoned mines: Report

Anna Weekes 8 Jun 2026
“For mothers and young elephants, Dzanga Bai becomes something of a playground and a very safe place,” says Ivonne Kienast, project manager and head researcher of the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Mongabay Africa’s most-read stories so far in 2026

Mongabay.org 5 Jun 2026
A stranded Bryde’s whale at Dyer Island. The 90-degree bend of the body suggests broken vertebrae as result of a ship strike, according to Loraine Shuttleworth. Image courtesy of Loraine Shuttleworth/Dyer Island Conservation Trust.

Whale strike risk rises as international shipping reroutes around South Africa

Victoria Schneider 5 Jun 2026
Diane Sitima at her farm. Image by Charles Mpaka for Mongabay.

In Malawi, one woman’s farm shows what’s possible with land and support

Charles Mpaka 4 Jun 2026
Rhino populations across their ranges in Africa and Asia are threatened by poaching for their horns, which are in demand in China and Vietnam for medicinal uses and as a luxury item.

Rhino-poaching suspect, repeatedly freed on bail, shot dead in South Africa

Spoorthy Raman 23 May 2026
The royal blue pansy butterfly (Junonia rhadama), one of the endemic insect species trapped by the IBA. Image by Andrianiaina Angelo via iNaturalist. (CC BY-NC 4.0)

New survey methods uncover new insights into Madagascar’s biodiversity

Mino Rakotovao 21 May 2026
The Mill Creek coal-fired power plant in the U.S. state of Kentucky is owned and operated by Louisville Gas & Electric. Image by Willian Alden via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

World burned less coal in 2025, but built more plants over energy uncertainty

Ashoka Mukpo 21 May 2026
Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Malawi in 2006. Image by st georges via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Electric fences help farmers and elephants coexist in Zambian borderlands

Ryan Truscott 20 May 2026
Installing an IFAW-supported temporary solar fence in Chikomeni chiefdom, within the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area, to deter human-elephant conflict. Image courtesy of IFAW.

Radio and satellite alerts help Zambian farmers live with dangerous wildlife

Ryan Truscott 15 May 2026
Aerial view of solar-powered drip irrigation scheme in Tauya village, Zambia. In Zambia, the majority of rural communities depend on rain-fed agriculture. However, erratic weather patterns, including drought, often lead to significant crop damage and livestock losses. Food security remains a pressing issue. Photo by Enoch Kavindele Jr/UNDP Zambia via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.).

Zambian prodigy draws on theoretical physics to improve weather prediction

Victoria Schneider 15 May 2026
Banner image: Farmers Anna Zimba and her husband Phaniso Zgambo stand in front of a cement granary. Around 30 such granaries have been built within the farming communities that are near to Kasungu National Park, offering greater protection to stored maize from hungry elephants. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay.

As elephants return in eastern Zambia, communities adapt to coexistence

Ryan Truscott 13 May 2026

South Africa declares natural disaster as flooding kills at least 10

Associated Press 12 May 2026
The golden mantella, an endangered frog species found only in Madagascar. Image by Frank Vassen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Africa’s amphibians are overlooked in conservation planning, experts warn

David Brown 12 May 2026
A European roller (Coracias garrulus) at B'stonliq, Uzbekistan. Image by bereskletic via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

From Africa to Central Asia, the European roller’s migration builds relationships

Terna Gyuse 9 May 2026

In Mozambique, four isolated mountains yield four new chameleon species

Naina Rao 8 May 2026
A gemsbok (Oryx gazella), also known as the South African oryx, in a mixed herd of herbivores at Tswalu. Image by John Cannon/Mongabay.

The value of South Africa’s wildlife shouldn’t be in the hands of wealthy foreign hunters (commentary)

Stephanie Klarmann 30 Apr 2026
Moreangels Mbizah tracking lions in Chizarira National Park, Zimbabwe. Image courtesy of the Whitley Foundation.

Conservationist wins top award to protect lions and people in Zimbabwe

Ryan Truscott 30 Apr 2026
The Nkhundye biogas plant under construction. Image courtesy of NACRO.

A village biogas project tests Zambia’s push to improve rural energy access

Sokosi Silvester Banda 29 Apr 2026

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