Wildlife of
Zimbabwe

Primary Threats

• High conflict around Hwange, Zambezi Valley, and Lowveld where elephants, lions, hyenas, and crocodiles damage crops, kill livestock, or threaten people. Drought pushes elephants and other wildlife toward community water points, increasing encounters; retaliatory killing and problem-animal control can undermine carnivore and elephant conservation.
• Trafficking risk for ivory, pangolins, and other wildlife products via regional routes linking Southern Africa to international markets. Zimbabwe's large elephant population and proximity to major transport corridors increase exposure to organized trafficking, even as enforcement efforts have improved in several landscapes.
• Illegal snaring for bushmeat is widespread in some communal lands and buffer zones, affecting antelope and occasionally lions/leopards caught in wire snares. Legal regulated trophy hunting occurs in designated areas and can fund management where governance is strong, but can be contentious and vulnerable to poor oversight.
• Conversion and fragmentation of miombo and mopane woodlands and savannas from expanding cultivation and settlement, especially around communal areas and along park boundaries. Loss of wildlife corridors between parks/conservancies (notably in the Lowveld and Zambezi Valley) reduces connectivity for elephants and predators.
• Expansion of smallholder farming and irrigation along major rivers (e.g., Zambezi and its tributaries) and around productive soils increases edge effects on protected areas, amplifies conflict, and can degrade riparian habitats important for birds and aquatic biodiversity.
• More frequent droughts, hotter temperatures, and erratic rainfall reduce water availability in key ecosystems (notably Hwange's dry season), intensify fire regimes, and lower forage quality. These changes heighten wildlife mortality risk, stress management budgets (e.g., pumping water), and increase community vulnerability, worsening conflict and poaching incentives.
• Gold, coal, and other mineral extraction can degrade habitats through land clearance, erosion, and water contamination; artisanal mining creates localized but severe disturbance in river catchments. Proposed/expanded mining near sensitive areas raises concerns for tourism value and ecosystem integrity.
• Localized water pollution from mining (e.g., sedimentation, heavy metals) and agricultural runoff affects riverine systems and wetlands. Waste and sewage impacts occur near urban centers and tourism hubs, posing risks to aquatic life and water quality downstream.
• Woodfuel collection and selective timber harvesting in woodlands near settlements can degrade habitat structure and increase erosion. While industrial logging is less dominant than in some regions, cumulative extraction pressure around communal lands and edges of protected areas is significant.
• Road upgrades, fencing, and expanding energy/mining infrastructure can fragment habitats and disrupt wildlife movement, particularly for elephants in transboundary and corridor areas. Increased access can also facilitate poaching and settlement expansion if not managed.
• Artificial water provisioning (e.g., pumped pans in Hwange) is essential for tourism and wildlife persistence in dry seasons but can alter natural distribution patterns, vegetation, and predator-prey dynamics. River regulation and water abstraction can modify downstream floodplain and riparian habitats important in the Zambezi system.
• Interfaces between livestock and wildlife (e.g., around communal lands bordering parks) can facilitate transmission risks such as foot-and-mouth disease affecting buffalo/cattle dynamics and limiting wildlife-based livestock trade options, complicating land-use decisions and tolerance for wildlife.