Wildlife of
Eswatini

Primary Threats

• Conversion of lowveld savanna and riparian areas to irrigated commercial agriculture (especially sugarcane) and associated drainage/clearing reduces habitat connectivity, increases water abstraction from the Usuthu/Komati systems, and pushes wildlife into closer contact with farms.
• Outside protected areas, remaining natural habitats are fragmented by cultivation, settlement expansion, and plantation forestry; key ecological corridors between highveld-middleveld-lowveld are narrowed, affecting wide-ranging species and seasonal movement.
• River regulation (dams, weirs, inter-basin transfers), irrigation infrastructure, and altered fire regimes in grasslands/savannas change flood timing, wetland function, and vegetation structure; this affects aquatic biodiversity and grazing/browsing dynamics in and around reserves.
• More frequent droughts and hotter conditions intensify water scarcity for people and wildlife, increase wildfire risk in grasslands and plantation mosaics, and can reduce forage availability in lowveld savannas-raising pressure on protected areas and escalating conflict near water points.
• Elephants and other wildlife from lowveld protected areas can damage crops, fences, and water infrastructure; predators (where present/reintroduced in fenced systems) can trigger livestock losses around reserve edges, increasing retaliatory behavior and demands for problem-animal control.
• Illegal snaring and bushmeat hunting occur in some communal and buffer areas, impacting antelope and smaller fauna and creating bycatch risk for threatened species; it also undermines tourism value in smaller reserves.
• High-value illegal trade pressure (notably rhino horn) drives sophisticated poaching risk and requires costly security, intelligence, and cross-border coordination given Eswatini's proximity to major trafficking routes in southern Africa.
• Invasive alien plants (e.g., lantana and other encroachers in disturbed savanna/riparian zones) and invasive wattles in wetter uplands can outcompete native flora, alter fire behavior, and reduce water yield in catchments that supply towns and irrigation.
• Agrochemical runoff from intensively farmed lowveld landscapes, sedimentation from disturbed catchments, and localized sewage/solid-waste pollution near urban centers affect river health and wetlands, with downstream impacts on biodiversity and water treatment costs.
• Commercial plantation forestry (pine/eucalyptus) and associated harvesting/road networks in upland areas can fragment montane/grassland habitats, alter catchment hydrology, and increase erosion risk-particularly where plantations replace natural grasslands.
• Growth around Mbabane-Manzini corridors increases demand for land, water, and aggregates, encroaches on peri-urban natural areas, and increases disturbance and pollution loads into nearby catchments.
• Road expansion, fences (including veterinary/game fencing), powerlines, and water-transfer/irrigation infrastructure can fragment habitats and constrain movement; wildlife-vehicle collision risk rises near park-adjacent transport routes.
• Fuelwood collection and grazing pressure in communal areas can degrade woodlands and grasslands, especially during drought periods, reducing natural regeneration and increasing erosion into rivers and dams.
• Livestock-wildlife interfaces raise risks around transboundary animal diseases (notably those affecting cloven-hoofed species), influencing fencing decisions and land-use constraints that can further fragment habitats and complicate reintroductions or wildlife movement planning.