Códigos jurídicos na gestão da vida selvagem no Zimbabwe

Legal codes[edit]

The Wildlife Conservation Authority initially protected and preserved wildlife in Zimbabwe as "king's game", which was changed to total state control subsequently. 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 1960 the economic awareness created a policy shift in managing the wild life 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."[1] The Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975 has been amended and consolidated in 1982 in which certain animals to be protected have been listed. Taking off 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.[10]

Wildlife estate[edit]

The Wildlife Estate includes ten 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.[4]

Chimanimani National Park[edit]

View of the National Park area from behind Chimanimani village stores

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 beauty of the park with natural falls such as in the Bridal Veil Falls in the Eland Sanctuary. spectacular 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 dense of the moist evergreen type. It is approachable only by trekking along hill tracks. It is 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the Mutare town. It has many wild life fauna such as eland, sable, bushbuck, blue duiker, klipspringer and also Spotted Leopard, apart from butterflies, birds, snakes and shy cats.[4][11]

Chizarira National Park[edit]

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 some of the best scenic vistas provided by its valleys, gorges, plateaus and flood plains. It abounds in large game fauna of elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo. Its bird species are the big five birds namely, the African Broadbill, Livingstone's Flycatcher, Yellow-spotted Nicator, Emerald Cuckoo, apart from Angolan Pitta and the Taita Falcon.[4][12]

Gonarezhou National Park[edit]

Wildlife camp in the 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 of very large size, in a 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 wild life 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.[4][13][14]

Hwange National Park[edit]

Elephants at Longone Pan, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

The Hwange National Park (formerly Wankie) established in 1929 with an area of 14,650 km2 (5,660 sq mi) is the largest park and game reserve in Zimbabwe in the northwest corner of the country. The park lies on the main road between Bulawayo and the widely noted Victoria Falls. In the 19th century it was the hunting ground of the Ndebele warrior-king Mzilikazi and it is named after the local Nhanzwa chief. The park is close to the edge of the Kalahari desert, a region with little water and very sparse, xerophile vegetation. While the park abounds in elephant population (one of the largest in the world), it also hosts 100 mammal species, including 19 large herbivores and eight large carnivores and 400 bird species; Zimbabwe's specially protected animals are all found here. Gemsbok, Brown hyena and African wild dogs occur in fairly large numbers (the population of African wild dogs is stated to be of one of the largest surviving groups in Africa now). The very large elephant population has been a matter of concern since, during drought years, they are a burden on the ecological balance of the region. Elephant culling has been done to restrict the population of elephants to 13,000 (less than 1 per km2); against the recommended population of 35,000 – 40,000 animals (0.6 per km2) for the country as a whole. Apart from culling the other suggested option to keep the elephant population under check is sterilization.[4][15][16] Conservationists covering this area have also expressed concern at the large "deforestation, poaching and unsustainable resource exploitation"