SADC to get transfrontier park

Johannesburg - Five nations have agreed to launch the world's largest international conservation area to protect nearly half of Africa's elephants and a vast range of animals, birds and plants, many of them endangered by poaching and human encroachment.

At a ceremony in Namibia on Thursday government ministers from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe put their official seal on a transfrontier treaty set to combine conservation in 36 nature preserves and surrounding areas.

The World Wildlife Fund says the countries will co-operate on measures to allow animals to roam freely across their borders over 440 000km², almost the size of Sweden.

The Kavango Zambezi area includes the Victoria Falls World Heritage site in Zimbabwe and Botswana's famed swampland of the Okavango Delta.