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)