Southern Africa: As Africa’s vulture populations continue to decline under mounting threats, conservationists are expanding “vulture safe zones” across the continent. Yet experts warn that protecting these wide-ranging scavengers across millions of hectares remains one of the most complex conservation challenges in the region.
The concept of vulture safe zones was first developed in Asia after catastrophic declines linked to the veterinary drug diclofenac, which proved lethal to vultures feeding on treated livestock carcasses. In Africa, however, the threats are broader and often more difficult to control from accidental and deliberate poisoning to habitat loss, power line collisions and the use of lead ammunition.
South Africa’s oldest vulture safe zone was established in 2019 at the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the southern Kalahari Desert. Spread across roughly 114,000 hectares and owned by the Oppenheimer family, the reserve has implemented measures such as covering reservoirs to prevent drownings and halting the use of lead ammunition to protect critically endangered white-backed vultures and endangered lappet-faced vultures. Conservationists have described Tswalu as a model example of how safe zones can work when threats are systematically reduced.
Since 2018, similar projects have emerged in Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and other parts of Southern Africa. These zones aim to protect breeding colonies, roosting areas and feeding grounds by minimizing key risks within defined landscapes.
However, experts caution that Africa’s vultures do not stay within neat boundaries.
Birds That Range Beyond Borders
White-backed vultures can forage across at least 2.4 million hectares, while Rüppell’s vultures have been recorded ranging over even larger territories. A 2022 study published in *Biological Conservation* highlighted how continent-wide ranging behaviour makes it difficult to ensure safety within limited protected areas.
Even birds nesting in relatively secure reserves may travel beyond safe zone borders and encounter poisoned carcasses or unsafe infrastructure. In Zululand, South Africa, despite coordinated efforts to reduce threats, NGOs have responded to more than 60 suspected poisonings since 2019. One mass poisoning incident in 2022 killed more than 50 vultures, many of which were mutilated for belief-based use.
Conservationists argue that while safe zones may not fully eliminate risks, protecting breeding colonies can significantly improve survival during critical life stages. Adult vultures tend to remain closer to nests while breeding, meaning localised threat reduction can increase the number of juveniles entering the population.
Learning from Asia, Adapting to Africa
In Asia, safe zones were defined by strict criteria, including a 100-kilometre radius around nesting colonies and intensive monitoring of carcasses to eliminate diclofenac contamination. So far, Nepal’s Gandaki–Lumbini region remains the only site fully meeting these standards.
In Africa, conservationists are now working to standardise how safe zones are declared, monitored and evaluated. Organisations including BirdLife South Africa, Endangered Wildlife Trust and BirdLife Zimbabwe are collaborating to create clearer guidelines tailored to African realities.
Community engagement has become a crucial pillar of these efforts. In Zimbabwe’s Gwayi Environmental Conservation Area, conservation teams report no poisoning incidents since beginning outreach work with local communities. Education campaigns aim to shift perceptions of vultures from misunderstood scavengers to vital ecosystem custodians.
Vultures play a critical ecological role by rapidly consuming carcasses, limiting the spread of disease and supporting healthy ecosystems. Their loss could trigger cascading effects, including increased feral dog populations and heightened risks of zoonotic disease transmission.
Despite challenges, conservationists stress that safe zones represent a proactive step in a landscape where inaction could accelerate extinction risks. Africa’s vultures breed slowly and are highly vulnerable to sudden mortality events, meaning even small gains in survival can have outsized long-term impacts.
As organisations move toward standardised criteria and ecologically meaningful safe zone sizes, the coming months may determine whether these protected landscapes can evolve from scattered initiatives into a continent-wide safety net for one of Africa’s most threatened bird groups.