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500 elephants get a new home thanks to Postcode Lottery players

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Video: this short film captures African Parks' amazing work moving 500 elephants to a better home in Malawi

A short documentary film about the world’s largest ever relocation of elephants has been created with funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

The Edinburgh based society lottery supports African Parks' work to boost elephant numbers in the national parks of Africa.

The organisation is the middle of a huge project to move 500 elephants from one Liwonde and Majete in Malawi, where over-population of elephants is destroying their habitat, to Nakhotakota park in the north of the country.

Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve was once a thriving home for elephants but numbers have been devastated by poaching.

A team of vets and conservation experts are using a fleet of flat-bed trucks, helicopters and cranes to move 500 African elephants 215 miles.

The massive project is being part-funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery who have raised £550,000 for the charity in sub-Saharan Africa.

The first 250 animals were successfully moved recently with the second group of 250 being moved in 2017. African Parks, who manage three reserves, is responsible for protecting around 90% of Malawi’s elephants.

More than 10 million elephants spanned across Africa just 100 years ago. Today there are less than 450,000. A team from People’s Postcode Lottery has just returned from Malawi and during their visit they created the video documenting the project, complete with remarkable footage of the move and interviews with the team from African Parks.

His Royal Highness Prince Harry also visited the project in August to see the remarkable journey being undertaken.