Elephants cause the most destruction in the communal lands, but they also generate the most revenue.
Elephants also generate a tremendous amount of emotion, and in part because of that emotion elephants are the focus of both consumptive and non-consumptive international tourism. For Westerners, elephants symbolize wild Africa. Yet for rural communities just a few years ago elephants only meant trampled crops or perhaps the loss of life. That change in perspective is essential to the long-term conservation of elephants in Zimbabwe. Ecotourism is growing in Zimbabwe, and will eventually bring in more money than hunting in some areas.