2.1 Description of study area
The Save Valley Conservancy is situated to the semi-arid south east
lowveld of Zimbabwe (Figure 1). It covers an area of 3,442
km2 and is the largest co-operatively managed wildlife
reserve in the world. Multiple properties in the conservancy are held by
private ranchers, local councils, government and the surrounding
community (Lindsey et al., 2008; Nhiwatiwa et al., 2011). The
conservancy is bordered by communal land whose population densities lie
between 11 and 82 people per km2, with some commercial
agriculture to the south and east (Pole, 2006; Lindsey et al., 2008)