The wildlife of Zimbabwe occurs foremost in remote or rugged terrain, in national parks and private wildlife ranches, in miombo woodlands and thorny acacia or kopje. The prominent wild fauna includes African buffalo, African bush elephant, black rhinoceros, southern giraffe, African leopard, lion, plains zebra, and several antelope species. The Wildlife Conservation Act of 1960 decreased the loss of wildlife in Zimbabwe. In the 1990s, Zimbabwe became a leader in Africa of wildlife conservation and management. In 2006 the country reported generating US$300 million yearly from its wildlife in protected areas, rural and community run wildlife management areas, and in private game ranches and reserves. The 12-member Parks and Wildlife Board is responsible for this activity and deciding on policy issues under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority under the board has the onerous task of overseeing the activities related to ten national parks, nine recreational parks, four botanical gardens, four safari areas, and three sanctuaries. These areas are collectively called the Wildlife Estate which covers an area about 47,000 km2 (18,000 sq mi), which is equivalent to 12.5% of the total land area of the country. However, reports by National Geographic News indicate a disturbing trend of decimation of wildlife as a result of a "national economic meltdown" leading to overexploitation of the wildlife resources to meet the finances of the nation.
Legal codes The Wildlife Conservation Authority initially protected and preserved wildlife in Zimbabwe as "king's game", which was subsequently changed to total state control. However, this created difficulties to the local population who were entirely dependent on the forests for their survival, as they were excluded from using indigenous wildlife resources and also gradually excluded from almost one-half of the country's land base. This seriously affected the sustainable exploitation of the wildlife resources as local people resorted to illegal poaching. However, in the 1960s the economic awareness created a policy shift in managing the wildlife in the country when the Wildlife Conservation Act was introduced. This was followed by the Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975, which enabled the land owners "the right to manage wildlife for their own benefit, thus providing an economic rationale to reinforce the scientific, aesthetic and moral justifications for wildlife conservation". The Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975 has been amended and consolidated in 1982 in which certain animals to be protected have been listed. Hunting of animals has been prohibited except under special permit issued by the minister for scientific or educational purposes or for captive breeding of falcons, live export, and re-stocking, wildlife management or defence of property. Provision also includes taking of indigenous plants, hunting of animals and regulation of fishing. Detailed regulations have been issued to the act.
Wildlife estate The Wildlife Estate includes eleven national parks: the Chimanimani National Park (including the Eland Sanctuary), Chizarira National Park, the Gonarezhou National Park, the Hwange National Park, the Kazuma Pan National Park, the Mana Pools National Park, the Matusadona National Park, the Matobo National Park, the Nyanga National Park, and Victoria Falls National Park and Zambezi National Parks.
Chimanimani National Park
Chimanimani National Park borders Mozambique in the southernmost area of the Eastern Highlands. It is a mountainous terrain with peak heights of 2,436 metres (7,992 ft) and is the source of many streams and springs enriching the environment of the park with natural falls such as in the Bridal Veil Falls in the Eland Sanctuary. There are also views of the Pork Pie mountain range and the Bridal Veil Falls, which plunges 50 metres (160 ft) down into a base about 10 m wide. The virgin forest cover is of the dense moist evergreen type. It is approachable only by trekking along hill tracks. It is 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the town of Mutare. It has fauna such as eland, sable, bushbuck, blue duiker, klipspringer and also spotted leopard, apart from butterflies, birds, snakes and shy cats.
Chizarira National Park Chizarira National Park located in northwestern Zimbabwe covers a virgin forest land of area of 192,000 hectares (470,000 acres); Chizarira means "great barrier". Though it is one of the largest parks, its location is in the remote Zambezi Escarpment and has extensive vistas of its valleys, gorges, plateaus and flood plains. Its large game includes elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo. Its bird species include the African broadbill, Livingstone's flycatcher, western nicator, emerald cuckoo, Angolan pitta and the Taita falcon.
Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park, encompassing an area of about 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi), in southeastern Zimbabwe is in a remote region along the Mozambique border and is the second largest such park in the country; the first largest park is the Hwange National Park. Gonarezhou in Shona means "elephant's tusk" (which the herbalists used to store their medicines) and it also means "place of many elephants". The park's habitat consists of baobabs, scrub lands and sandstone cliffs in the lowveld region. The park is very large, in rugged terrain, and hence remains unaffected by human interference. The park is within the ambit of the transboundary part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Gonarezhou with the Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Animals move freely between the three sanctuaries. The park's rich wildlife consists of 500 species of birds, 147 species of mammals, more than 116 species of reptiles, 34 species of frogs and 49 species of fish. The park's rivers and pools have some unique species of aqua fauna such as the Zambezi shark, freshwater goby, black bream and the turquoise killifish.
Hwange National Park
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