Negative Human-Wildlife Interactions at Lake Kariba: Emphasis on Crocodile and Hippo Attacks on People

This chapter considers the prevalence of negative human-animal relations in communities surrounding Lake Kariba. People in different communities (i.e., Kariba town, fishing camps/villages and rural areas) are impacted in different ways by attacks from wild animals. As a result of human-wildlife conflict (HWC), people incur minor and serious injuries, death, loss of property and disruption of livelihoods. While the chapter generally refers to all animals (terrestrial and aquatic), detailed data of conflicts induced by crocodiles and hippos are given largely because the book is about the Lake. The HWC incidents and impacts are unevenly distributed across different social groups in the region. Among the fishing communities, for example, the most impacted are men because they engage in riskier activities and spend longer periods in the Lake compared to women and children. Overall, little is being done in terms of mitigating human-wildlife conflict at Lake Kariba and the chapter provides reasons for this. Consequently, humans continue to develop negative attitudes towards animals and, in retaliation for attacks, they resort to lethal means of dealing with the problem animals. Retaliation is a major threat to conservation at Lake Kariba, I argue.