Botswana’s poaching threat is shifting from the high-profile species that dominate international conservation campaigns toward animals hunted for bushmeat, with kudu and gemsbok emerging as the country’s most frequently targeted species, according to a government report.
Botswana recorded 824 poaching incidents between 2020 and 2024, with 130 involving kudu, 90 gemsbok and 79 impala, according to data from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) contained in the Botswana Selected Environmental Indicators 2024 report.
‘The nature of poaching is changing,’ the report says, warning that ‘the poaching pressure is currently pivoting toward larger mammals and consistent bushmeat species like Kudu and Gemsbok.’
The shift broadens the challenge facing the country’s wildlife authorities. While international attention has largely focused on elephants and other species targeted for their high-value body parts, the data suggest illegal hunting is also increasingly affecting animals that can be killed for meat.
Kudu poaching incidents rose from 17 in both 2021 and 2022 to 30 in 2023 before easing to 25 last year. Gemsbok recorded 20 incidents in 2020 and 22 in 2021, with 19 reported in 2024.
The Central District was the country’s biggest poaching hotspot, recording 278 incidents during the five-year period, including 66 involving kudu and 50 involving impala. Kgalagadi recorded 72 gemsbok cases, the highest district total for the species.
The changing pattern does not mean the country’s iconic wildlife is escaping pressure. Elephant poaching climbed to a five-year high of 33 incidents in 2024, underscoring the country’s exposure to both bushmeat hunting and the illegal killing of high-value wildlife.
The report calls for ‘localised and species-specific enforcement strategies’ as poaching increasingly cuts across different categories of wildlife.
The broader mortality data offer a mixed picture. Botswana recorded 2,924 documented wildlife deaths between 2019 and 2024, although annual mortality fell from 723 deaths in 2019 to 332 in 2024, according to DWNP data.
Mortality reached a six-year low of 319 in 2023 before rising about 4% in 2024. Elephants accounted for 140 deaths in 2024, the highest total among species recorded that year. That was down from 152 in 2023 and less than half the 346 elephant deaths recorded in 2019.
The figures suggest that while overall recorded wildlife mortality has declined, Botswana’s conservation challenge is becoming more diffuse with pressure spreading beyond the species that have traditionally defined the country’s poaching crisis.