Transfrontier Conservation Areas

The Southern African Development Community has created 14 Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) across country borders covering 1 Million Square Kilometers or 10% of the land in 11 of SADC's 16 countries. The SADC TFCA programme hopes to reconnect natural landscapes by improving transboundary conservation, supporting sustainable rural development and building climate change resilience in the region. The TFCA programme is part of SADC's regional integration vision.

The TFCA Network

The SADC TFCA Network is a community of practice that brings together professionals working in Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) across a wide range of sectors contributing to SADC's regional sustainable rural development programme.

Recognising the shared challenges faced by TFCAs and aligned with the SADC TFCA vision, the Network was established on 25–26 September 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa, by TFCA coordinators, representatives from international NGOs, and practitioners from the SADC Member States.

The Network aims to address several key common challenges, including:

  • Strengthening governance through improved policies, legislation, and institutional frameworks
  • Developing sustainable financing mechanisms for TFCAs
  • Demonstrating the value of TFCAs at local, national, and regional levels—for example, by enhancing community benefits and supporting capacity development.
More
Become a member of the TFCA Network and join a vibrant community of like-minded professionals. Click here to join now!

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Visit a TransFrontier Conservation Area today

If you're interested in visiting one of the Transfrontier conservation areas, here are some great links to help you on your journey:
TOURISM in TFCAs  
TOURISM in KAZA  

News

Kavango Zambezi Introduces Africa’s First Cross-Border Birding Route
Rorly Sherwen / 27 March 2026
For the first time, five southern African countries are marketing their shared conservation landscape as a single birding destination. The Great Kavango Zambezi Birding Route brings together Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe under one structured avitourism experience spanning more than 650 bird species across 12 sites in the world’s largest terrestrial trans frontier conservation area.

SADC Reports Tourism Integration Progress at ITB Berlin 2026
Rorly Sherwen / 26 March 2026
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat has reported notable progress on regional tourism integration at Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB) Berlin 2026, where Angola was the Official Host Country on 4 March 2026. The update was shared during a stakeholder session supported by the German Government and the European Union and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The SADC Tourism Programme 2020–2030 provides a coordinated roadmap for sustainable tourism development across the bloc’s 16 member states.

SADC TFCA Newsletter - 1st Edition March 2026
Rorly Sherwen / 25 March 2026
Dear TFCA Colleagues, There is a moment at ITB Berlin 2026, the world's largest tourism trade fair – when the logic of transfrontier conservation becomes almost self-evident. A delegate from a Frankfurt tour operator sits across from a Boundless Southern Africa representative, and the pitch is not about a country, or even a park. It is about a landscape. About an idea quietly reshaping how Southern Africa presents itself to the world, that the lines on the map are not the...

More news

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Click here to add your news to the TFCA website.

Visit a TransFrontier Conservation Area today

If you're interested in visiting one of the Transfrontier conservation areas, here are some great links to help you on your journey:
TOURISM in TFCAs  
TOURISM in KAZA  

The TFCA Network

The SADC TFCA Network is a community of practice that brings together professionals working in Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) across a wide range of sectors contributing to SADC's regional sustainable rural development programme.

Recognising the shared challenges faced by TFCAs and aligned with the SADC TFCA vision, the Network was established on 25–26 September 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa, by TFCA coordinators, representatives from international NGOs, and practitioners from the SADC Member States.

The Network aims to address several key common challenges, including:

  • Strengthening governance through improved policies, legislation, and institutional frameworks
  • Developing sustainable financing mechanisms for TFCAs
  • Demonstrating the value of TFCAs at local, national, and regional levels—for example, by enhancing community benefits and supporting capacity development.
More
Become a member of the TFCA Network and join a vibrant community of like-minded professionals. Click here to join now!

News

Kavango Zambezi Introduces Africa’s First Cross-Border Birding Route
Rorly Sherwen / 27 March 2026
For the first time, five southern African countries are marketing their shared conservation landscape as a single birding destination. The Great Kavango Zambezi Birding Route brings together Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe under one structured avitourism experience spanning more than 650 bird species across 12 sites in the world’s largest terrestrial trans frontier conservation area.

SADC Reports Tourism Integration Progress at ITB Berlin 2026
Rorly Sherwen / 26 March 2026
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat has reported notable progress on regional tourism integration at Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB) Berlin 2026, where Angola was the Official Host Country on 4 March 2026. The update was shared during a stakeholder session supported by the German Government and the European Union and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The SADC Tourism Programme 2020–2030 provides a coordinated roadmap for sustainable tourism development across the bloc’s 16 member states.

SADC TFCA Newsletter - 1st Edition March 2026
Rorly Sherwen / 25 March 2026
Dear TFCA Colleagues, There is a moment at ITB Berlin 2026, the world's largest tourism trade fair – when the logic of transfrontier conservation becomes almost self-evident. A delegate from a Frankfurt tour operator sits across from a Boundless Southern Africa representative, and the pitch is not about a country, or even a park. It is about a landscape. About an idea quietly reshaping how Southern Africa presents itself to the world, that the lines on the map are not the...

More news