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Zambia’s leopard conservation is centred on protecting strongholds such as Kafue National Park while reducing poaching, prey depletion and conflict. Recent collaborative protection work has been linked to a tripling of leopard density in southern Kafue, although significant threats remain.[1]
Quick answer: Leopard conservation in Zambia is showing encouraging local results, particularly in Kafue National Park. A four-year counter-poaching and monitoring programme led by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), with Panthera, the North Carolina Zoo and other partners, was associated with a tripling of leopard density in southern Kafue and broader population stabilisation across the park. Zambia does not, however, have a reliable national leopard population estimate in the research reviewed for this article. Poaching for skins, habitat pressure, prey depletion and conflict with people continue to require long-term action.
Last reviewed August 2026. Conservation data changes — see the cited sources for the latest figures.
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of Africa’s most adaptable large carnivores. It can use a wide range of habitats and often survives in landscapes where larger predators face greater pressure, but its adaptability should not be mistaken for security. Across its range, leopards are affected by habitat loss and fragmentation, depletion of wild prey, negative interactions with people, unsustainable trophy hunting and illegal killing for body parts.
Zambia is important because it contains extensive, relatively connected landscapes that can support large carnivores. The Greater Kafue Ecosystem is described as a stronghold for leopard, alongside African lion, African wild dog and other threatened wildlife. Kafue National Park is particularly significant: historical information identified it as a potential leopard stronghold, but until recently there was limited information about leopard density and survival in the ecosystem.
The country also forms part of wider transboundary conservation landscapes. The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) covers approximately 444,000 square kilometres across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For a wide-ranging carnivore, this regional context matters because protection, wildlife crime and habitat connectivity cannot be managed entirely within one national park.
Leopards also have cultural significance. In western Zambia, Lozi communities use leopard skins in ceremonial attire associated with events including the Kuomboka ceremony and other cultural festivals. That tradition has created a conservation challenge where demand for genuine skins can encourage illegal hunting and trafficking, while culturally appropriate alternatives may offer a way to reduce pressure on wild animals.
The research identifies illegal hunting for ceremonial leopard skins as a serious threat in southern Africa, including western Zambia. The Greater Kafue Ecosystem is described as a source area for skins used in western Zambia, with illegal hunting and trafficking supplying demand. This threat is distinct from accidental capture or conflict killing: it is targeted poaching driven by the value of the leopard’s distinctive coat.
Panthera’s “Saving Spots” work focuses on reducing this pressure through synthetic substitutes known as “heritage furs”. The intervention was designed for Lozi royal ceremonies and seeks to preserve cultural expression without requiring skins from wild leopards. Research on the Furs for Life Zambia initiative evaluated whether substitution could reduce illegal harvesting, using questionnaires, law-enforcement information and other evidence. The available research summary indicates a positive conservation result, but it does not provide enough detail here to state a verified national population increase or a precise reduction in poaching. Claims about the programme should therefore be kept local and evidence-based.
Leopards depend on a functioning prey base. Bushmeat hunting and other forms of illegal hunting can reduce prey availability and alter the balance between carnivores. The Greater Kafue Ecosystem supports numerous antelope species, including puku, red lechwe and roan, which form part of the wider ecological foundation on which large predators depend.
In northern Kafue, researchers expected leopard density and survival to be lower because of documented depletion of large-carnivore prey. Instead, estimated density and survival were generally good in the study area. The researchers suggested that smaller prey, including puku and impala, had been less affected than larger prey such as hartebeest and buffalo, and that reduced lion density may also have benefited leopards by lowering competition. This is an important qualification: a leopard population can perform well in a particular part of a park even when the wider ecosystem is experiencing prey losses.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are recognised range-wide threats to leopards, alongside prey depletion and human conflict. Fragmentation can reduce secure refuge, isolate populations and bring leopards into closer contact with livestock, farms and settlements. The research supplied for Zambia does not provide a national percentage of leopard habitat lost, so the scale should not be expressed as a single countrywide figure.
Maintaining the integrity of Kafue, its surrounding game-management areas and other connected landscapes is therefore central to leopard conservation. Conservation planning must extend beyond a park boundary because the Greater Kafue Ecosystem includes protected areas, community lands and economic activities that influence wildlife movement and security.
Leopards may kill livestock, particularly where natural prey is scarce or where settlements overlap with wildlife habitat. Retaliatory killing is identified as a major threat to leopards in the wider region and is one of the pressures conservation programmes must address. The research reviewed here does not provide a Zambia-wide total for retaliatory leopard killings.
Conflict reduction requires more than enforcement. It can include better livestock husbandry, rapid reporting, community participation and practical benefits from wildlife conservation. Zambia-focused conservation organisations also use community outreach and conservation-compatible livelihoods around protected areas, including beekeeping, community tourism and other local enterprise programmes.
Climate change can affect water, vegetation, prey distribution and the frequency with which wildlife and people use the same areas. The supplied sources do not quantify climate-driven leopard losses in Zambia, so it would be misleading to assign a national figure or rank climate above the documented pressures of poaching, prey depletion, habitat fragmentation and conflict. Climate resilience should nevertheless be incorporated into landscape planning, water management and the protection of connected habitat.
Since 2018, DNPW has coordinated a collaborative protection approach across the Greater Kafue Ecosystem with Game Rangers International (GRI), Musekese Conservation, Panthera, Wildlife Crime Prevention, the Zambian Carnivore Programme (ZCP) and, from 2021, African Parks, with support from the North Carolina Zoo. The collaboration brings together government leadership, field protection, research, technology and partner funding rather than relying on a single organisation.
From 2018 to mid-2022, the Kafue case study records approximately 240 wildlife police officers and related scouts in 2021. Its peak annual funding, also in 2021, was approximately US$4,730,748 for a 22,400-square-kilometre area. These figures describe the wider Kafue protection collaboration, not a leopard-only budget.
Operations used SMART, the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool, and EarthRanger to plan patrols, record field information and improve coordination. Technology does not replace rangers: its value lies in helping teams decide where to patrol, share information and assess whether protection is reaching priority areas.
Panthera conducted Kafue’s first systematic camera-trap population study in 2018, establishing baseline information for lions and leopards in the park’s core. The northern Kafue study then estimated leopard density and survival in an area where little previous population information was available.
Monitoring is essential because leopard numbers are difficult to estimate. Leopards are solitary, elusive and widely distributed, and a single count cannot show whether a population is increasing, stable or declining. Repeated camera-trap surveys, individually identified coat patterns, survival estimates and patrol data provide a stronger basis for decisions than occasional sightings.
GRI supports ranger welfare, training and operational capacity in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem and Rufunsa Game Management Area as part of the 2026 Wildlife Ranger Challenge. Wider support for African Parks’ Zambian operations has included ranger training, air surveillance, communications, wildlife monitoring and information management, alongside work to strengthen wildlife-crime convictions.
Ranger welfare is a conservation issue as well as a staff issue. Long patrols, limited communications and dangerous encounters can undermine protection if teams lack equipment, insurance, training and reliable logistical support. The strongest programmes combine law enforcement with evidence management, judicial cooperation and community relationships rather than treating anti-poaching as a purely military task.
The Furs for Life Zambia initiative represents a different type of intervention. Instead of focusing only on arresting poachers, it addresses demand by providing a culturally relevant alternative to genuine leopard skins used in ceremonial dress. This approach is potentially valuable because it seeks to reduce the economic incentive for targeted killing while respecting the importance of ceremony and identity.
Demand-reduction programmes should be assessed transparently. Evidence needs to distinguish between fewer skins observed at ceremonies, reduced trafficking, changes in community attitudes and actual improvements in leopard survival. The research supplied supports the importance of the intervention and reports encouraging findings, but it does not provide a national leopard census attributable to synthetic furs.
| Evidence area | What the research reports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Kafue | Leopard density reportedly tripled after four years of coordinated counter-poaching and monitoring. | A tripling in southern Kafue is not a national Zambia-wide trend. |
| Northern Kafue | Estimated leopard density and survival were generally good in the study area. | The result cannot be applied automatically to every Kafue habitat or protected area. |
| Protected-area collaboration | DNPW and partners coordinated protection, research and technology across the Greater Kafue Ecosystem. | Long-term funding and consistent protection remain necessary. |
| Demand reduction | Synthetic “heritage furs” were developed to replace genuine skins in Lozi ceremonial use. | The supplied summary does not give a verified national population increase caused by the programme. |
The overall picture is cautiously positive. Kafue has produced evidence of local recovery under sustained protection, and the park remains a major opportunity for leopard conservation. The setbacks are equally clear: leopard status remains poorly documented across much of the species’ range, prey depletion continues to shape carnivore populations, and targeted poaching and conflict have not disappeared.
Conservation success will depend on maintaining DNPW’s leadership, financing ranger operations, protecting prey, improving community benefits and repeating scientifically robust leopard surveys. It will also require cooperation across the wider KAZA landscape, where wildlife and illegal trade routes cross national borders.
Well-managed tourism can help make protected landscapes economically valuable while supporting ranger teams, monitoring and community programmes. In Kafue, the conservation partnership has combined protection with local initiatives such as community tourism, beekeeping and community-based natural-resource management. Tourism is not automatically beneficial: its contribution depends on transparent management, responsible operators and whether local people receive meaningful benefits.
Visitors seeking a wildlife safari park experience should look beyond the likelihood of seeing a leopard. A responsible wildlife safari supports landscapes where prey, habitat and less visible species are protected as well. SafariFind travellers can book conservation-supporting safaris on SafariFind, while checking how an operator contributes to local employment, park fees, conservation partnerships and community initiatives.
Leopards may be encountered in Kafue, but sightings are never guaranteed and should not be treated as the measure of a park’s conservation value. A healthy safari landscape also includes functioning prey populations, intact habitat, effective law enforcement and communities that can benefit from coexistence.
Zambia’s leopard conservation story in 2026 is one of measurable local progress without grounds for complacency. Kafue National Park has benefited from coordinated protection, ranger investment, SMART and EarthRanger monitoring, camera-trap research and collaboration led by DNPW. Synthetic heritage furs also demonstrate how conservation can address demand while recognising cultural practice.
The next test is durability. Leopards need secure habitat, adequate prey, reduced conflict and protection from illegal skin markets over many years. Continued monitoring will show whether Kafue’s gains persist and whether similar approaches can strengthen leopard conservation elsewhere in Zambia.
Leopards remain threatened by poaching, prey depletion, habitat fragmentation and conflict, but local evidence from Kafue National Park is encouraging. A collaborative protection programme was associated with a tripling of leopard density in southern Kafue.
The research reviewed for this article does not provide a reliable national leopard population estimate for Zambia. Available studies are localised, including density and survival research in parts of Kafue National Park.
Kafue National Park is identified as a potential leopard stronghold and has received the most detailed conservation and monitoring attention in the supplied research.
Targeted poaching for ceremonial skins is a serious threat, particularly in western Zambia, while prey depletion, habitat fragmentation and conflict with people also affect leopard populations.
They are synthetic substitutes developed through the Furs for Life Zambia initiative to replace genuine leopard skins used in Lozi ceremonial attire.
Yes, local evidence indicates improvement. Panthera reports that four years of coordinated counter-poaching operations helped triple leopard density in southern Kafue and increase or stabilise leopard populations across the park.
Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife leads protection, working with partners including Panthera, Game Rangers International, Musekese Conservation, Wildlife Crime Prevention, the Zambian Carnivore Programme, African Parks and the North Carolina Zoo in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem.
Tourism can support protected-area management, ranger operations and community conservation-compatible livelihoods when fees and benefits are managed transparently. The Kafue landscape includes community tourism and livelihood initiatives.
Travellers should not buy leopard skins or other wildlife products. Demand for genuine skins can contribute to targeted illegal hunting and trafficking.
Choose responsible safari operators, follow wildlife-viewing rules, support reputable conservation organisations and local businesses, and avoid all products made from leopard parts.
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