Gonarezhou’s vernacular name is “the place of elephants”, owing to its 11,000-strong elephant population
Funds disbursed
Funding year
Program area
Situated in the southeast of Zimbabwe on the border with Mozambique, the Gonarezhou landscape features scenic sandstone cliffs, wide meandering rivers, seasonal pans, and extensive woodlands. Together with neighboring national parks in South Africa and Mozambique, Gonarezhou is part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park which covers a cross-border protected area of around 35,000 km².
Gonarezhou is a co-managed between the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Its vision is to be a model for sustainable conservation in Africa – where ecosystems are protected, tourism for conservation thrives, and stakeholders matter.
National Park - IUCN Category II
Conservancy, community hunting area
Supported buffer zone
| Country |
|---|
| Zimbabwe |
| IUCN Category |
| IUCN category II, Game Management Areas |
| Ecosystem type |
| Dry deciduous savanna woodland, mopane and sandveld thickets |
| Key species |
| Savanna elephant, black rhino, African wild dog, lappet-faced vulture, turquoise killifish |
| Conservation and climate relevance |
| Key Biodiversity Area, Important Bird Area |
| Implementing partner(s) |
| Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT); Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) |
| Governmental partner(s) |
| Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority |
| Grant type |
| Sustaining |
| Match funder |
| Wyss Foundation |
Program in brief
Activities
- Building and maintaining park infrastructure and equipment
- Carrying out ranger patrols, e.g., to protect black rhinos
- Researching and monitoring key species and threats such as animal diseases, water quality, and wildfires
- Diversifying tourism opportunities and developing commercial activities that support conservation
- Developing community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) and improving social, economic, and ecological resilience of neighboring communities
Conservation challenges
- Poaching and illegal wildlife trade
- Anthropogenic fires and loss of ecological connectivity to other protected areas
- Ongoing land conversion in areas adjacent to the park
- Human-wildlife conflict, e.g., elephants raiding fields of small-scale farmers
For more information on this landscape’s Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD)
Field Insights
Conservation focus
A spicy solution to crop raids
An initiative supporting local farmers to grow chilis is helping to prevent human-elephant conflict and provide communities with a new cash crop
Farming in the communal areas adjacent to Gonarezhou National Park is challenging due to a range of factors, including recurring droughts and limited access to markets. These challenges are further exacerbated by the potential of elephants and other wildlife to raid crop fields, wiping out entire annual harvests in as little as a single night.
Scaling livelihood projects has always been difficult, but a new initiative which partners the private sector directly with communal farmers is bearing fruit. The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust introduced the Kacholo Chili Company to farmers in the Muhlanguleni area adjacent to the park. The aim of this initiative is to introduce an alternative, viable cash crop in the communities, which at the same time is less prone to raiding by wildlife. Not only are the chili fields themselves not palatable for wildlife to raid, but in addition, low-grade chilies can be molded into chili bricks and used to deter elephants from raiding other crops.
Since the project started in 2021 it has expanded quickly, with a total of 216 farmers currently involved in the scheme. In addition, the chili farmers are also hiring locally to help them with farming and harvesting, with approximately 221 people (89% female) employed on a part-time basis.
Junior Mathlelemu, one of the 33% of female farmers who are enrolled in the project, was happy to report that the money she is getting from chili farming is helping her to buy food and pay school fees. She has also used some of her money to repair her house and put a fence around it. In the future she hopes the money will be enough for her to start her own cattle business.
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