Before 1939 the Lengwe game reserve in Nyasaland sheltered a wide range of large animals, including the rare nyala antelope for whose protection it was originally declared. By the end of the war, with invasions and settlement and large-scale poaching, it hardly qualified as a reserve at all, says the author, who is honorary secretary of the Fauna Preservation Society of Malawi; and the situation was not much better in 1964 when the country achieved independence as Malawi. Then, thanks to the personal interest of Dr. Banda, a decision to abolish the reserve was reversed and a new water supply installed which has transformed the situation.