Seasonal movement of elephant in and around Matusadona National Park, Kariba

Abstract

Matusadona National Park is one of the protected wildlife areas set amidst communal land in northern Sebungwe region of Zimbabwe. It had been apparent for sometime that the elephant population in the Matusadona highlands moved in and out seasonally and was evident from the seasonal distribution data of elephant in the northern Sebungwe, gathered during aerial surveys. The large discrepancy in wet and dry season elephant numbers confirmed that there was a wet and dry season dispersal. The paper presents the process and results of a project carried out in order to better understand the nature of seasonal movements of the elephants in and out of Matusadona for better management options.