Wildlife is comprehensively used to cover all terrestrial and aquatic species which include animal, plant and bird life in the Zambezi River Basin. The basin’s floodwaters sustain floodplain grasslands and wetlands. Grasslands and woodlands of the basin in turn support browser and grazer animal species such as buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, sable, impala and kudu, as well as the predatory lion and leopard. The wetlands are habitat to birds, amphibians and large mammals such as the hippo. Most of the basin wetlands fall into four sub-basins of the Zambezi namely: Shire in Malawi, Kafue, and Barotse in Zambia and Cuando/Chobe shared by Botswana and Namibia.

The basin’s wildlife resources are mostly found in protected areas, such as national parks; game reserves; hunting areas; courtesy areas, safari areas and forest areas. Excluding privately owned game ranches, such wildlife areas constitute about 27 percent (351,000 square kilometres) of the total area of the Zambezi River Basin.

About 12 percent of the basin area in Angola has been designated as wildlife estates, while in Botswana it is 79, in Malawi 33, in Mozambique 14, in Namibia 33, in Zambia 26 and in Zimbabwe 33 percent.

The distribution of animals in the basin is mostly determined by the presence of tsetse fly, agriculture and settlements. The animals are largely concentrated in protected areas such as the Kameia National Park in Angola, Chobe National Park in Botswana, Kasungu, Liwonde and Nyika National Parks in Malawi, Caprivi Game Reserve in Namibia, Kafue, Luangwa and Lower Zambezi National Parks in Zambia, and Hwange and Mana Pools National Parks in Zimbabwe. Important endemics include Lake Malawi’s fish fauna and the Reduncine antelopes.

Animal populations in the basin have changed significantly since the early 1980s, particularly elephant numbers in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Animal wildlife has become an important industry in terms of both hunting and photo tourism. In addition, the introduction of community-based wildlife management programmes such as for the Chobe Enclave in Botswana and CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe have contributed to the increase. Recorded minimum estimates of basin animal wildlife population are shown in Table 1.

The wetland habitats of the basin (lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers etc) support different fish species. Rivers are generally divided into their upper, middle and lower courses, all of which determine the type of fish found in each. Normally, fish species are few and small in size in the upper reaches of the river than the middle and lower courses. This is due to the pattern of increasing nutrients, decreasing water speed and increasing water depth and oxygen availability.

The Upper Zambezi, for example, has small, slender kneria fish species. Its middle course has small-sized tilapia while in its lower course, large catfish, and fish diversity is greater than in the other two courses. Lake Malawi is reported to have more than 250 fish species of which about 90 percent are endemic. Floodplains such as the Barotse and Kafue in Zambia and the Elephant Marsh in Malawi usually provide both the natural and artificial fish nurseries.

The Zambezi River Basin remains a rare bird habitat due to the following: It is home to a large number of globally and more specific, southern African endangered or vulnerable species; holds large numbers of birds found nowhere else (endemic); hosts many waterbird species (about 500) and, supports a significant number of migrant bird species.

Some of the globally endangered bird species in the basin include the Whitewinged Flufftail of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The basin also supports globally vulnerable species such as the Wattled Crane of the Zambezi Delta in Mozambique, the Blackcheeked (Lilian’s) Lovebird, Palearctic migrants (the Lesser Kestrel and Corncrake) and the resident Taita Falcon. Those registered as globally near-threatened include the Shoebill, Lesser Flamingo, Malagasy Pond Heron, Churring Cisticola of Malawi and Zambia, Goldenbacked Bishop in Angola, and four Palaearctic migrants: the Pallid Harrier, Blackwinged Pratincole, Great Snipe and Basra Reed Warblar.

Excluding bird species already covered above, the IUCN Southern Africa Red Data List also includes the Rufousbellied Heron, Black Stork, Western Banded Snake Eagle, Grey Crowned Crane, African Finfoot, African Skimmer, Whitecrowned Plover, Longtoed Clover, Lesser Jacana, Swamp Nightjer, African Grass Owl, Pel’s Fishing Owl and Black Coucal as near-threatened birds of the basin.

In addition, the basin wetlands also support large concentrations of waterbirds, including the Adrienne (herons, egrets and storks), Anatidae or wildfowl (ducks and geese) and Scolopacidae and Charadridae (wanders).

Vegetation bands vary throughout the Zambezi River Basin. Main forest types include miombo, mukwa and Zambezi teak while woodlands include mopane, false mopane (usually used to make dug-out canoes, the only form of transport used by the rural communities on the Zambezi River’s upper reaches) and mahogany. Plant wildlife support different animal, bird and aquatic species, providing food, shelter and water. They support insects of ecological and socio-economic value such as bees, locusts, butterflies and worms. Important endemics include the "underground trees" (suffrutices) of the Barotse floodplains. The Water berry tree is characteristic of the Zambezi River and its tributaries. Plants are also, to a large extent, protected by conservation areas that include forestry reserves, national parks and game reserves. The dense reedbeds also provide good shelter for bream and other fish.

Wildlife is utilised for both consumptive and non-consumptive purposes. Animal wildlife-based tourism brings millions of foreign currency to the basin countries and the SADC region. Major activities include game and trophy hunting as well as game viewing. Commercial hunting generates about US$10.5 million annually. Local communities also hunt for subsistence consumption. Apart from providing much of the protein to the basin countries, fishing is also big business. Crocodile farming too, provides the much-needed income to the local farmers.

Trees provide both wood and non-wood products. Wood products include among others, timber, paper, fencing poles, and fuelwood. About 70 percent of the basin countries’ net energy requirements are derived from fuelwood. In addition, they sustain animal and birdlife as well as provide non-wood products which include fruits, shelter, mushrooms, medicines and consumable insects. Trees also maintain natural systems in the basin through erosion prevention, nutrient recycling and water conservation and storage. In addition, they contribute to carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other life-giving components.

The basin’s animal and bird wildlife resources are threatened among other factors by commercial poaching, loss of habitat (particularly through human settlement, agricultural expansion, timber and fuelwood harvesting, livestock protection measures, damming of waterways, floodplain drainage, armed conflict and lack of adequate human and financial resources.

The basin’s fish resources are mainly threatened by overfishing. Other threats include improper fishing practices, such as the use of explosives, poison and use of small meshes (e.g., mosquito nets); and introduction of exotic fish species such as tiger fish (in Lake Kariba) which are predatory. The water hyacinth weed, which deprives fish of oxygen and space, is also a major threat.

The weed has caused a decline in catches in the Lower Shire River in Malawi, Lake Chivero in Zimbabwe and many other rivers in Zambia.

Agricultural pesticides, industrial, mine and domestic waste are washed into watercourse systems polluting water and negatively impacting on fish numbers and species.

Trees are threatened, among other factors by, agricultural expansion, commercial logging, fuelwood harvesting for both domestic and industrial purposes (e.g., tobacco curing, beer brewing and brick-making), charcoal production, overgrazing, tsetse fly control, as well as human-caused and natural fires.

The rhino and elephant of the basin

The rhino is the most endangered animal of the Zambezi River Basin. Southern African rhino figures were estimated at 60,000 in 1970 and were drastically reduced by poaching to about 15,000 in 1980 and to around 3,000 in 1990. About 60 percent of these rhinos are in the Zambezi River Basin. The animal is killed for its horn sold in countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Yemen. In the 1980s, the horn cost about US$1,000 per kg. The elephant is also poached for its tusks (ivory). However, elephant herds have increased even to unsustainable numbers, particularly in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. By June 1997, elephant numbers in Zimbabwe had increased to over 65,000, a figure almost double the country’s carrying capacity of 35,000.

Wildlife resources of the Zambezi River Basin are important to the socio-economic development and ecological survival of the riparian states. The key factor is to provide correctional measures to major wildlife threats in the basin. Since animals and birds know no borders, sustainable management, therefore, requires a coordinated inter-state and basin-wide approach. Some environmentalists have called for the establishment of a Southern African Wildlife Sanctuary (SAWS). They have proposed that some parts of the basin, rich in wildlife such as in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe be collectively developed into the SAWS.

Likewise, water is a shared basin resource supporting all the basin’s wildlife. Polluting the Zambezi River tributaries leads to various adverse impacts on the wildlife, among them, animals and birds.

All Government departments responsible for Wildlife, Forestry and

Department of Forestry and Wildlife

CP 74, Luanda

ANGOLA

Tel: (244-3) 23934 Telex:3322 MINAGRI AN

Kalahari Conservation Society

P.O. Box 859, Gaborone

BOTSWANA

Tel: (267) 374557 Fax: 314259

Email: ceoks@info.bw

Wildlife Society of Malawi

P.O. Box 1429, Blantyre

MALAWI

Tel: (265) 643428/643502 Fax: 643765

The National Directorate of Forestry and Wildlife

CP 1072, Maputo

MOZAMBIQUE

Tel: (258-1) 460129 Fax: 460060

Wildlife Society of Namibia

P.O. Box 3508, Windhoek

NAMIBIA

Tel: (264) 229908

Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania

P.O. Box 70919, Dar es Salaam

TANZANIA

Tel: (255-51) 24571/66379 Fax 24572

Wildlife Conservation Society of Zambia

P.O. Box 30255, Lusaka

ZAMBIA

Tel: (260-1) 254226/229083 Fax 254226

Email: wcsz@zamnet.zm

Campfire Association

P.O. Box 661, Harare

ZIMBABWE

Tel: (263-4) 747152; Fax: 747470