Eswatini plans new Big Five reserve

Eswatini has moved ahead with plans to create a major new Big Five reserve in the Lubombo region, launching a five-year biodiversity programme designed to unite conservation, tourism and community development across a vast cross-border landscape.

The initiative focuses on roughly 87,000 hectares in eastern Eswatini, an area valued for its wildlife, natural habitats and tourism potential. Officials say the project is intended to lay the groundwork for a consolidated reserve that can support iconic large mammals while also improving the condition of ecosystems under growing pressure.

Backers of the plan say the landscape faces a series of overlapping threats. Among the most pressing are habitat fragmentation, the spread of invasive species, land degradation, climate-related stress and the economic hardship experienced by many nearby communities. By addressing these pressures together, the programme aims to strengthen both ecological resilience and local livelihoods.

The five-year effort carries a total budget of more than US$48 million. A portion of that funding comes from an international environmental grant of just over US$5.2 million, while the rest is being assembled through support from the Eswatini government, development partners, conservation groups, private-sector participants and other institutions.

Eswatini’s Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs is leading the project, with technical and implementation support from international development and environmental partners. The programme is expected to combine on-the-ground conservation work with planning for tourism growth, landscape restoration and stronger coordination among stakeholders working in the region.

The proposed reserve is part of a wider effort to position conservation as an engine for sustainable development. Rather than treating wildlife protection as separate from economic concerns, planners are presenting the Lubombo project as a model in which healthy ecosystems can generate long-term benefits through tourism, job creation and natural resource security.

That approach is especially significant in rural areas bordering protected land, where poverty and limited economic opportunities can make conservation difficult to sustain without visible local benefits. Supporters argue that if communities are included in tourism and restoration economies, the reserve could deliver gains beyond biodiversity alone.

The Big Five concept typically refers to the presence of lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo, species that often anchor safari tourism and attract international attention. Establishing or consolidating a reserve capable of supporting such wildlife would mark a notable step for Eswatini’s conservation ambitions and could strengthen the country’s appeal as a nature destination in southern Africa.

Officials involved in the launch described the programme as an important milestone, saying it reflects a national push to link environmental protection with prosperity. In their view, the success of the Lubombo reserve will depend not only on safeguarding wildlife, but also on making conservation economically meaningful for the people living around it.

If the plan succeeds, the Lubombo landscape could emerge as one of Eswatini’s most important conservation zones, balancing habitat protection with tourism growth and community participation. Over the next five years, attention will turn to whether funding, coordination and local engagement can turn that vision into a functioning Big Five reserve.