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Riverine woodlands in some protected semi-arid savannas in southern Africa are threatened by increasing elephant densities. Our study in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe, sought to differentiate elephant impacts from the impacts of other agents on vegetation changes along 7 km of the Runde River over ∼70 years. We examined whether a legacy effect on woody cover persisted after bush clearing by Tsetse Control on the upper terrace in 1963/64, followed by a decade of maintaining an elephant-free corridor, using aerial and lateral photographs, and remote-sensing imagery. Plants coppiced to produce a dense shrubland during the wet 1970s. Woody cover increased on cleared and uncleared areas until 2005, then declined sharply by 2016. The effect of partial protection from elephants on the structure and composition of riverine woodland was investigated in 2024 using a fence-line contrast constructed in 2012. The partially protected area supported greater woody cover, canopy volume, woody plant density, and taller plants, and showed less elephant damage, than unprotected woodland. Lateral photographs illustrated that elephant impact increased after 2015 and was amplified by drought conditions from 2017/18 to 2019/20. Changes in reedbeds over ∼70 years were assessed because of their importance as an alternative dry season food for elephants. Floods resulting from cyclones Eline in 2000 and Dineo in 2017 stripped reedbeds capable of supporting >11 500 days of elephant foraging. Reedbeds have not recovered, denying elephant a food source which mitigates their impact on woody vegetation. Large trees were also lost to these floods. Over ∼70 years, elephants have reshaped the riverine woodland by transforming a species-rich, closed-canopy woodland to a depauperate open woodland. However, these changes were potentiated by preceding losses to bush clearing and to floods stripping reedbeds. Recovery of riverine woodland can be achieved using a set of fast-growing woody species under reduced elephant pressure.