Communities lose out to encroaching game animals

The tourists come to Zimbabwe's vast Hwange National Park, view its rich collection of big game from the safety of vehicles with armed guards, and then leave. But communities living on the fringes of the park are forced to share their land with the encroaching wildlife, a proximity that leads to inevitable conflict between humans and animals. The communities in this perennially dry region of northwestern Zimbabwe rely on the Gwayi river, as do thirsty animals who have broken out of the game park. Looking for water, they end up terrorising the villages on the edge of Hwange. "I cannot remember a time of peace between wild animals and people here. The animals regularly break out of the national park and come down the river in search of water. But from there they raid our fields and destroy crops. They destroy our riverside nutrition gardens. We are a poor people, but we are made even poorer by the animals whose presence does not benefit us in any way," said Sikhumbuzo Tshuma, a ward councillor in the Lubimbi area of Binga. ELEPHANT OVER-POPULATION "The elephants come first, followed by other big game like lions, buffaloes and kudu. Warthogs, hyenas and even the noisy jackals also come. With such animals on the loose, it is very dangerous to move around. Children cannot go to school, we cannot tend the crops in our fields. Many people have been trampled by elephants, killed by hyenas and lions or gored to death by buffaloes. That way we lose lives, our crops and livestock to game every year," Tshuma told IRIN. Tshuma's concerns are echoed in the other three communities bordering the Hwange National Park – Tsholotsho to the south, Cross Dete to the north and the Shana communal lands to the northwest. Hwange is Southern Africa's second biggest game sanctuary after the Kruger park in South Africa. It is home to about 40,000 elephants - nearly half of Zimbabwe’s total elephant population of 88,000. It also provides sanctuary for a large number of lion, kudu, buffalo, in addition to plenty of smaller game, which include the endangered civet cats and wild dogs. While environmentalists and the government worry that the number of elephants far exceeds the carrying capacity of the park and threatens bio-diversity in the fragile Kalahari sands ecosystem, regular forays by the animals outside the park has worsened the poverty of the neighbouring communities. Officials from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Hwange say the huge elephant population is responsible for the premature drying of water sources. They also blame the elephants for destroying plants and trees, which other species feed on, resulting in more animals leaving the park to raid the fields and gardens of the nearby villages. "The number of elephants here exceeds the carrying capacity of the park. There is always a shortage of water and food for the animals. One elephant drinks close to 200 litres of water per day. As a result, water runs out early. The shortage of diesel and the constant breakdown of water engines mean we hardly have enough water in the [artificial] pans to keep pace with consumption," a park warden explained. "And, because of the elephant's destructive feeding tendencies, there is very little vegetation left for other browser species. The result is a mass movement of bigger, dangerous game, into populated areas where they come into conflict with humans," he added. LIMITED RESPONSE BY THE AUTHORITIES The management of animals outside the game park is the responsibility of the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE). CAMPFIRE is a non-governmental organisation which works in conjunction with rural district councils to educate communities and help them reap the benefits of conservation. Charles Jonga, a senior official with the organisation, acknowledged that the human-animal conflict has worsened over the years in communities on the fringes of the Hwange National Park. He said CAMPFIRE had plans to erect electric fences between game parks and populated areas, but the delayed project had not started. Jonga also blamed the encroachment of human settlement into previous wildlife habitats, like the Gwayi and Zambezi valleys, for an upsurge in conflict between communities and large game animals. CAMPFIRE runs a Problem Animal Control (PAC) programme, which targets and kills rogue animals terrorising villages. But villagers interviewed complained of a slow response from CAMPFIRE officials in the Binga and Hwange rural district areas. They said PAC only paid attention after rogue animals had killed or maimed people and livestock. Emmanuel Koro, information officer for Africa Resources Trust (ART), a Harare-based environmental non-governmental organisation, pointed out that the problem of human-animal conflict extended beyond the Zambezi Valley to many other communities living close to game parks in Zimbabwe. He noted that the theft of boundary fences had allowed animals to roam relatively freely across the countryside. "The human-animal conflict is growing all over the country. But it is particularly pronounced in the middle and lower Zambezi valley areas, where there are more people living close to protected game areas. There are also large numbers of animals living outside the protected areas, making it difficult to monitor their movements and protect the communities," Koro told IRIN. "The best thing would be to find measures to protect the communities, at the same time teaching them the benefits of conservation farming," he added.