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Interactions between people and wild animals often result in negative impacts, and different views on the management of such interactions can lead to conflicts. Both intentional and unintentional negative human–wildlife interactions are increasing problems in many places where people share space with wild animals. Here we focus on negative interactions between people and Nile crocodiles Crocodylus niloticus in and around Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. In the study area, crocodile attacks on people occur frequently, leading to people being injured or killed, which in turn prompts retaliatory actions against crocodiles. However, despite the negative impact of such interactions on both people and crocodiles, little is known about the spatio-temporal patterns of crocodile attacks or environmental conditions under which attacks occur. We collected information about crocodile attacks on people that occurred during 2000–2020, including the date, time, season and location of attacks, the age of victims and the activities they were carrying out when attacks occurred, and water conditions during attacks. We analysed these data to discern patterns and trends of crocodile attacks on people. Attacks occurred in clear as well as turbid water, and nearly half of all reported attacks were at night or in the early morning. The locations with the highest number of recorded attacks were Nyanyana and Charara lakeside, and the fewest attacks occurred at Andora harbour. Most victims were 26–40 years old, and most were attacked in the dry-hot season, while they were fishing. Our findings can be used to design area-specific mitigation strategies to reduce negative human–crocodile interactions.

This paper discusses a history of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe focusing on a particular aspect and group of people. It focuses on a river landscape found in the Dandawa chiefdom, located southwest of Hurungwe district, in northwestern Zimbabwe. During fieldwork, the river landscape appeared central in explaining relations at various levels, notably among people themselves, between the people and the guerrillas and between the guerrillas and the Rhodesian security forces. It shaped relations and defined geographical space in a particular way during the war period. The river landscape is used to interpret activities of the liberation struggle in this chiefdom. The paper is about how people remember and construct narratives of the struggle in relation to the river landscape. It traces these memories arguing that landscapes carry not only shared experiences, but different memories as well. It illustrates how this landscape conditioned confrontations and movements of actors during the liberation struggle.

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