Carnivores in KAZA

Across Africa, large carnivores evolved to roam vast, interconnected landscapes that enable them to hunt prey, find mates, and maintain large territories. But today, those movements have become constrained as human settlements, agriculture, and infrastructure have spliced habitats into ever-smaller fragments. Increasingly isolated and funneled toward spaces inhabited by people, many of the continent’s iconic predators face mounting pressures from habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict, which have fueled alarming declines across populations.

One of the greatest opportunities to reverse this trend lies in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA). Spanning 200,000 square miles across parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, KAZA is the world’s largest terrestrial transboundary conservation area. Here, significant numbers of lions, African wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, and spotted hyenas still move freely across connected wetlands, savannas, grasslands, and forests—as well as through villages and community lands—helping to keep these important ecosystems in balance.