African Wildlife Foundation
An international conservation organization working to protect African wildlife, habitats, and natural resources while supporting communities and sustainable economies.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is an international conservation organization established in 1961 to support the protection of Africa’s wildlife, wild lands, and natural resources. It began as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, created by Russell E. Train and a group of American conservation supporters during the period when many African states were gaining independence. From its early work in professional training and institutional development, AWF evolved into a landscape-scale conservation organization that combines wildlife protection with community livelihoods, land-use planning, environmental education, and partnerships with governments and businesses. One of the foundation’s earliest priorities was developing African expertise in wildlife management. In 1963 it provided major financial support for the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka in Tanzania, an institution intended to train professional park and wildlife managers. It also supported scholarships for African students studying biology and wildlife management at American universities, established a conservation education center near Nairobi National Park, and later helped create a French-language wildlife-management school at Garoua in Cameroon. These initiatives reflected AWF’s emphasis on building African conservation capacity rather than relying exclusively on foreign personnel or short-term projects. The organization has supported research and species-protection efforts involving rhinoceroses, cheetahs, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, giraffes, leopards, and other threatened species. Its work has included grants, equipment, field research, ranger support, anti-poaching assistance, environmental education, and cooperation with national parks and local authorities. AWF supported research associated with Dian Fossey’s gorilla studies and Cynthia Moss’s elephant research, among other conservation work. Since the late twentieth century, AWF has increasingly organized its work around large ecological regions rather than isolated parks. The organization has described these areas first as “heartlands” and later as priority landscapes. Such landscapes cross administrative and sometimes national boundaries, recognizing that wildlife migration, watersheds, forests, and human economies do not stop at park borders. Examples described in AWF-related material include the Congo Basin, Kazungula, Kilimanjaro, Limpopo, Maasai Steppe, Mau Forest Complex, Parc W, Ruaha, Samburu, Virunga, Faro, Great Fish River, and Etosha-Skeleton Coast. AWF’s contemporary model is commonly summarized through three linked objectives: empowering people, conserving wildlife, and protecting land. Community work may involve conservation enterprises, education, support for local institutions, sustainable agriculture, tourism, forest restoration, and measures to reduce conflict between people and wildlife. The organization has also used conservation-linked investment approaches, including support for tourism facilities and agricultural businesses subject to environmental or conservation conditions. Its stated purpose is to make conservation compatible with local economic needs while maintaining habitat connectivity and viable wildlife populations. The foundation operates as a nonprofit rather than a commercial consumer brand. Its principal offerings are conservation programs, technical assistance, grants and partnerships, field research, training, community development, and public education. AWF works with African governments, park agencies, local communities, conservation organizations, researchers, businesses, donors, and international institutions. Its present identity is therefore that of a pan-African conservation partner focused on durable institutions, protected landscapes, and the relationship between biodiversity and human livelihoods.
History
The African Wildlife Foundation was created in 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation by Russell E. Train, a U.S. judge and conservation supporter, together with associates connected to the Washington Safari Club and American public life. Its creation coincided with a period of rapid African decolonization and political independence. The organization’s early mission focused heavily on ensuring that African countries had trained wildlife professionals and functioning conservation institutions as colonial administrations withdrew. In 1963, AWLF made a foundational grant toward the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka in Tanzania. The college became an important center for training park managers and other wildlife professionals from Africa and beyond. During the same period, the foundation developed a scholarship program for African students at U.S. universities and established a conservation education center near Nairobi National Park. In 1967 it helped finance a Tanzanian research institute, and in 1970 it established or supported a French-language wildlife-management school at Garoua in Cameroon. During the 1970s and 1980s, its assistance included student support, conservation projects, equipment, vehicles, water pumps, tents, and photographic supplies, often providing practical resources rather than unrestricted cash. Species conservation became another important strand of the organization’s work. AWLF led a rhinoceros-protection campaign in 1969 and began a cheetah research program in 1974. It also supported notable field research on gorillas and elephants. In 1983, the organization removed “Leadership” from its name and became the African Wildlife Foundation. The change reflected an evolution from an institution-building foundation toward a broader conservation organization, although its founder expressed concern that the organization was moving away from its original leadership-development mandate. By the late 1980s, AWF was campaigning against elephant poaching and had expanded its conservation role. In the 1990s and thereafter, it increasingly moved toward integrated landscape conservation. From 1998, its land-protection efforts emphasized landscape-level approaches that connected protected areas with migration routes, community lands, forests, watersheds, and working agricultural areas. The organization’s former “heartlands” framework was subsequently described as a priority-landscape approach. AWF’s landscape portfolio has included sites and regions in eastern, central, southern, and western Africa. In the Congo Basin it has worked with partners on sustainable land-use planning in the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba landscape and on conservation issues affecting bonobos and eastern chimpanzees. In Zambia’s Kazungula region it supported community conservation, wildlife corridors, rhinoceros recovery, and local education infrastructure. In Limpopo and other transfrontier regions, its activities have included support for protected-area connectivity, leopard research, conservation infrastructure, and tourism-related development. In Kenya and Tanzania, work has included forest restoration, corridor protection, community conservancies, wildlife research, and responses to human–wildlife conflict. The organization’s modern program logic links three broad goals: empowering people, conserving wildlife, and protecting land. This has led AWF to work through partnerships with governments, local communities, private enterprises, researchers, and other conservation groups. Conservation enterprises and carefully structured investments have been used to create economic incentives for habitat protection, while ranger support, research, education, and institutional development address direct conservation needs. AWF remains an international nonprofit whose central geographic focus is Africa and whose long-term strategy is to make wildlife and habitat conservation compatible with local development.
- 2011
Community school opens in Kazungula
[1]A new Lupani community school supported by AWF opened in Zambia’s Kazungula landscape.
- 1998
Landscape-scale land protection becomes a focus
[1]AWF’s land-protection work increasingly adopted landscape-level conservation rather than concentrating only on individual protected areas.
- 1988
Elephant anti-poaching campaign launched
[1]AWF launched a campaign addressing elephant poaching and the wider protection of African elephants.
- 1983
Name shortened to African Wildlife Foundation
[1]The organization dropped “Leadership” from its name as its work broadened into a wider conservation portfolio.
- 1970
French-language wildlife school supported in Cameroon
[1]The foundation established a wildlife-management school at Garoua to provide instruction in French.
- 1967
Support for Tanzanian conservation research
[1]AWLF provided funding for construction of a research institute in Tanzania.
- 1963
Mweka training college receives early AWLF support
[1]AWLF provided a major grant toward the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka in Tanzania.
- 1963
Scholarship and conservation education programs begin
[1]The foundation started scholarships for African students and built a conservation education center near Nairobi National Park.
- 1961
Foundation established
[1]The African Wildlife Leadership Foundation was founded by Russell E. Train and associates to strengthen the protection of African wildlife and to develop African conservation leadership.
Products and positioning
A conservation organization centered on African leadership, priority landscapes, wildlife protection, and community-linked sustainable development.
Landscape conservation · 1998
Priority landscape conservation
AWF works across large ecological landscapes that may include national parks, community lands, forests, wetlands, migration corridors, and agricultural areas. The approach is intended to maintain habitat connectivity and coordinate conservation across administrative boundaries. Examples associated with the foundation include landscapes in the Congo Basin, Kazungula, Limpopo, Kilimanjaro, Samburu, Ruaha, Virunga, and Parc W.
Professional education · 1963
Wildlife-management training and scholarships
A longstanding AWF activity is strengthening African conservation capacity through support for wildlife-management colleges, scholarships, professional training, and institutional development. Early support helped establish or develop training facilities at Mweka in Tanzania and Garoua in Cameroon, while scholarships connected African students with biology and wildlife-management education.
Community development
Community conservation and conservation enterprises
AWF partners with communities and local authorities to connect conservation with livelihoods. Activities described in its landscape work include conservation enterprises, community conservancies, education, sustainable agriculture, tourism, local planning, and measures to reduce human–wildlife conflict. The objective is to give local stakeholders practical and economic reasons to maintain wildlife habitat.
Wildlife science · 1969
Species protection and field research
The foundation has supported research and protection programs involving elephants, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, giraffes, leopards, and other African species. Its assistance has included field studies, ranger and anti-poaching support, conservation planning, habitat protection, and partnerships with scientists and protected-area agencies.
Conservation finance
Conservation-linked investment
Through African Wildlife Capital, described in reference material as an AWF subsidiary or associated investment vehicle, the organization has supported socially and environmentally responsible tourism and agricultural businesses. Examples include investment in Grootberg Lodge and the Rungwe Avocado Co., with conservation conditions intended to align enterprise activity with habitat protection.
Marketing campaigns
- 2011See African Cats, Save the Savanna
United States · International
A partnership associated with Disney’s African Cats connected the film’s first-week ticket sales with support for protecting the Amboseli Wildlife Corridor through AWF.
- 1988Elephant anti-poaching campaign
Africa · International conservation community
AWF launched a campaign against elephant poaching, adding public advocacy to its field and institutional conservation work.
- 1969Rhinoceros protection campaign
Africa · International conservation community
AWLF led a campaign with other conservation groups to improve protection for rhinoceroses at a time of growing concern over population declines and poaching.
Brand decisions
1998
Shift toward landscape-level conservationStrategyBackground
Wildlife protection required attention to migration corridors, community lands, watersheds, and ecosystems extending beyond individual parks.
Action taken
AWF placed greater emphasis on large landscapes and later organized its work around priority landscapes.
Aftermath
The approach became a central framework for combining habitat protection, community development, and wildlife management.
1983
Adopt the African Wildlife Foundation nameStrategyBackground
The organization had expanded beyond its original leadership and training emphasis into a broader conservation role.
Action taken
It removed “Leadership” from its name and became the African Wildlife Foundation.
Aftermath
The name change marked a broader institutional identity, although founder Russell E. Train criticized what he viewed as a departure from the original leadership mandate.
Recent events
Travulous and African Wildlife Foundation announce Rwanda travel partnership[3]
Travulous announced a new exclusive travel partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation in Rwanda. Under the partnership, Travulous will operate conservation-based itineraries and events for AWF stakeholders and wildlife advocates.
AdventureWomen and African Wildlife Foundation announce partnership for Zimbabwe safari[4]
AdventureWomen announced a partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation. As part of the collaboration, leaders from both organizations will host a women's safari to Zimbabwe in May 2022, with a planned visit to a school in Zambia.
AWF partners with REJEFAC-AVJC on youth biodiversity workshop[5]
The African Wildlife Foundation partnered with REJEFAC-AVJC and other organizations to raise awareness of conservation policies and youth engagement at a regional biodiversity workshop held online.
Sources5 sources
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