The hardest hit conservation areas are the Save Valley Conservancy, the Chiredzi River Conservancy, the Bubye Valley Conservancy, and the Bubiana Conservancy. Between them they cover an area of 2,228,000 acres in the south-east of Zimbabwe.

In some cases the whole viability of the conservancy has been threatened and some areas are now devoid of wildlife.

Since the devastating 1991/92 drought, the conservancies have been carefully managed to ensure their natural rehabilitation. After significant investment by the members, they have been transformed into viable wildlife enterprises. In addition to their black rhino and breeding elephant herds, they also have viable buffalo populations; state-owned Lichtenstein's Hartebeest (highly endangered in Zimbabwe); and the continent's most endangered canid, the African Wild Dog, which has returned to the area having been absent for 21 years.There are also numerous up-market and prospering safari camps which can take advantage of the nearby Buffalo Range Airport with its international customs and immigration facilities to bring in the much needed tourists, contributing significantly to the overall development of the tourist industry in the district.

These conservancies are now threatened with a massive deforestation of prime habitats and an intensive poaching programme as invaders illegally occupy the land. In some cases the whole viability of the conservancy has been threatened and some areas are now devoid of wildlife.

Snaring and hunting with dogs is constantly on the increase and arrested poachers have revealed that meat is moved out to external markets. This increased activity has made attempts to control the poaching extremely difficult. The anti-poaching personnel are continuously intimidated and their effectiveness is negligible. Encouraged by Mugabe's rhetoric, lawlessness and destruction have accompanied the illegal land seizures. Properties have been burnt out, trees cut down, tourists forced out of safari camps by irate war veterans, ranch scouts disarmed, intimidated, severely assaulted and even killed as they have attempted to perform their duties.

At 840,000 acres Save Valley Conservancy is one of Africa's largest conservancies. Since the invasions, about 25% of the conservancy has been almost fully occupied by settlers or is inaccessible to the land owners and their staff due to threats and intimidation from the occupiers. In the last two months alone, 214 incidents have been reported on the areas of Save which are still accessible to anti-poaching patrols. 5677 wire snares have been recovered, 22 dogs shot and 94 poachers arrested. The dead animals found total 450 comprising 208 impala, 112 kudu, 31 warthog, 3 water buck, 1 bush pig, 1 nyala, 6 bushbuck, 19 zebra, 9 wildebeest, 27 eland, 2 buffalo, 4 elephant, 1 duiker, 1 cheetah, 1 leopard, 1 giraffe, 20 small animals, 1 ostrich, 1 rhino calf, and 1 python.

Save supports about 1,200 elephant and has experienced an unprecedented growth rate of about 10% per annum of the black rhino, making it the most successful rhino breeding programme in Africa. There are now 200 black rhinos in these Lowveld conservancies and 50 white. Private farms and conservancies protect 70% of the national total of Rhinos. All rhino in Zimbabwe are state owned and the conservancies were amongst those specially chosen to be the government's guardians for these endangered creatures.