Lowveld Rhino Trust, Zimbabwe

Location: Lowveld Conservancies Project leader: Raoul du Toit Project partner: Lowveld Rhino Trust Rhino species: South Central black rhino (Diceros bicornis minor) and white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) Rhino numbers: 390 black rhino and 140 white rhino Size of protected area: 755,000 ha covered by the monitoring units Activities: Monitoring, translocations, education, temporary care for orphan rhino calves Support: We try to raise what we can for the work of the Lowveld Rhino Trust, whose priority needs include ongoing support for the monitoring units, veterinary treatment, and the development of an intelligence network and legal support Funding partners: International Rhino Foundation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, EAZA Rhino Campaign, Save Foundation (Australia)

The Save-Limpopo Lowveld area (collective referred to as the Lowveld Conservancies), lies in south-eastern Zimbabwe below an altitude of 600 m above sea-level, and comprises 20% of the land area of Zimbabwe.

The low and variable rainfall (300-600 mm per year) restricts the agricultural options. Irrigated crop production has significant potential where water is available. Dryland subsistence farming in the communal lands is both unproductive and environmentally destructive as it has expanded, with human population growth, under the semi-arid conditions. Commercial cattle ranching on extensive ranches has largely given way (under economic and ecological pressures) to wildlife-based operations. In addition to large populations of typical savannah wildlife species (including elephant, buffalo, antelope, etc.), the Lowveld contains viable populations of several rarer species (including black rhino, white rhino, wild dog, cheetah and ground hornbill).

A major land-use development within the Save-Limpopo Lowveld was the formation of large private conservancies, from former cattle ranches. The first three Lowveld conservancies were formally established in 1991, being: Chiredzi River, approximately 800 km²; Bubiana, 1,200 km²; and Save Valley, 3,400 km². The rationale for their establishment was the need to create land/wildlife management units of an appropriate ecological scale in this semi-arid environment. Black rhino conservation needs, being addressed under Zimbabwe's rhino custodianship scheme, catalysed the formation of these conservancies (under this scheme, the conservancies act as guardians of black rhinos but with no ownership rights).

Catalytic donor funding from the Beit Trust was used in a leveraged way to induce the landowners to remove internal game fences and to co-manage their pooled wildlife resources, thus creating space for expansion of rhino populations.

Subsequently, the Bubye River Conservancy was constituted in the mid 1990s, to encompass over 3,000km². The Malilangwe Trust has established an additional wildlife estate of 400 km². Both these areas have been restocked with black and white rhinos. One of Zimbabwe's largest national parks, Gonarezhou N.P. (5,050 km²), is also situated in this region but currently has a very low level of tourist visitation, and awaits rhino restocking once it has been made more secure through a park rehabilitation programme in which the Frankfurt Zoological Society has a central role.

Liaison between Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique on the formation of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) was facilitated by various international NGOs. The Great Limpopo TFCA has been formed to assimilate Kruger National Park in South Africa, the newly created Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and adjoining wildlife conservancies and communal wildlife programmes. In addition, the Limpopo-Shashe TFCA has been formed between Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Thus, at various management levels, the Save-Limpopo Lowveld is poised for significant expansion of its wildlife industry, as soon as Zimbabwe regains political stability.

The Lowveld Rhino Trust (LRT) has been leading this successful recovery process. Established in 1991 as a WWF programme, it has, through exceptional active management and anti-poaching activities, increased the number of Critically Endangered black rhino. Numbers are up from 42 to 390 despite the political conditions in the country and the population now accounts for 80% of Zimbabwe’s total population, making it of huge continental, and indeed global importance. This is an incredible achievement given the economic breakdown and notorious fast-track settlement since 2000 that has lead to the occupation of extensive sections of the country, including in the Lowveld. The LRT works with the Zimbabwean Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (as the overall management authority for rhinos), with private sector wildlife operations and NGOs operating in the Lowveld.

However, since 2000 the Lowveld’s wildlife industry has been strongly challenged by land reform policy and by consequences of the “fast-track resettlement programme”, which has had negative effects on wildlife operations through unplanned settlement, foreclosure of some key wildlife corridors, poaching and habitat loss. These consequences have been aggravated by a rapidly declining national economy and by reduced employment levels, which have caused over-exploitation of natural resources including wildlife.