Elephants and other buffalo from Zimbabwe’s largest national park have been migrating en masse for several weeks to neighboring Botswana due to lack of water, the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority learned on Monday. from Zimbabwe.
“Many animals are leaving Hwange National Park for neighboring Botswana,” Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said on Monday.
Hwange Park, with an area of some 14,600 km2is home to around 50,000 pachyderms.
The migration of wildlife from Hwange to Botswana is not an unusual phenomenon, but this year stands out for its precocity, according to the spokesperson. Natural water points are now dry earlier in the year than usual, due to a lack of precipitation.
“I cannot give the precise number of elephants that have moved, it may be hundreds or thousands, but in any case, there are many,” lamented Mr. Farawo, who specified that this forced migration began in August.
“The animals are looking for water and food and it is not just elephants and buffaloes, but all types of animals present in the park,” he added.
“The number of animals migrating has clearly increased in recent years due to increasingly severe water shortages,” he said.
According to him, this massive movement of wildlife risks causing new confrontations with humans: “More animals will invade communities, with people competing for water with them.”
Since last year, several clashes between elephants or buffaloes and residents of villages neighboring Hwange Park have been recorded. According to the government, at least 60 people were killed last year by elephants, which are growing in number.
Zimbabwe has about 100,000 elephants, almost double the capacity of its parks, according to conservationists. With 130,00 specimens, Botswana is the country with the most specimens in the world.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has classified southern Africa as a region at risk for extreme heat and reduced precipitation due to global warming.