The monitoring of ecosystem processes and states is a critical step in the management of protected areas. It allows for the assessment of the success or failure of practices ranging from ‘laissez-faire’ to strong hands-on policies. Much effort is for instance devoted to the monitoring of wildlife abundance, particularly when associated with large ecological influence or socio-economical values (Gordon, Hester & Festa-Bianchet, 2004). In Africa, the diversity of large herbivores represents both a major asset of protected areas and a global conservation target as a consequence of the dramatic decline of wildlife populations under other land uses. In addition to the local importance of such monitoring data, collation of data from multiple sites ultimately allows general patterns to be revealed (e.g. Fritz & Duncan, 1994). Here, we contribute to the general knowledge on large African herbivores by reporting on their seasonal abundance, using road transect counts, in Hwange National Park (thereafter HNP), north-western Zimbabwe
