Landscape heterogeneity is an important predictor of snake–human encounters in Eswatini

Snake–human encounters may lead to snakebite, a neglected tropical disease affecting 5.4 million people each year. Anthropogenic land use has major impacts on terrestrial biodiversity; however, its role in species diversity of snake and snake–human encounters remains poorly documented. We used snake rescue data collected over a 4‐year period across the country of Eswatini to test the effects of landscape heterogeneity and human population densities on snake–human encounters. We isolated the potential effects of configurational (patch density) and compositional (Shannon's diversity index) heterogeneity on encounter rates, and we assessed the scale(s) at which these potential effects occurred. As both the configurational and compositional heterogeneity of land use increased, there was a greater chance of snake–human encounters, but effects of compositional heterogeneity interacted with human population density where effects of landscape diversity weakened at very high human population densities. Similar patterns generally occurred for both medically important and non‐medically important snake species. Overall, landscape effects were most supported at a scale of 500‐m surrounding snake encounter locations. Synthesis and applications . Our results suggest that large‐scale land use changes, such as disintegration of natural habitat into smaller patches of habitat, are associated with a significant increased likelihood of encountering a snake. This has important implications for both snakebite prevention and landscape conservation in southern Africa as habitats change and populations grow. Considerate and informed land use design and planning need to be developed to minimise impact on biodiversity and reduce the incidence of snake encounters.