Features

ADF STAFF During the four centuries of its rule, the Mali Empire was known around the world for its fabulous wealth in gold. Nearly 700 years later, areas of the former empire are still rich with deposits of the precious metal. Now…

ADF STAFF Twelve years ago, Dr. Andrew Rhyne, a marine biologist and expert on wildlife trafficking, was trying to figure out a better way to track the aquarium fish being imported into the United States. The system could not keep up…

ADF STAFF Wildlife ranger work traditionally has been a men’s-only club in Southern Africa. So when the nonprofit International Anti-Poaching Foundation created the all-female Akashinga ranger team in Zimbabwe in 2017, it was greeted…

Story by ADF STAFF | Photos by AFP/GETTY IMAGES The global pandemic did not lock down wildlife traffickers. Authorities in Zimbabwe caught four smugglers trying to ship 26 great apes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to South…

ADF Staff Dr. John Nkengasong, a virologist, has been the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) since 2017 and has helped lead the continent’s response to Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and other health…

ADF STAFF When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Malawi in early April 2020, the nation known as the “warm heart of Africa” for the kindness of its citizens faced a potential crisis. The fast-spreading respiratory disease could easily have…