Namibian rangers feed trapped buffaloes
This is a few weeks old, but gives some idea of the impact of the rains on Chobe wildlife.
Windhoek, May 5, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) — Officials from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Namibia recently trucked 80 bales of vitamin-enriched fodder to two herds of 450 buffaloes cut-off by floods on an island in Caprivi in northeastern Namibia. Marooned on a tiny island through which there is a migratory route for the free-roaming beasts the wild beasts form part of the thousands of buffaloes and elephants shared between Namibia and Botswana and freely migrate between the two countries.
Cape Buffalo on Sadudu Island - large herds of buffalo frequently move out onto the low lying land in search of grass. In high waters, this can create problems. photo by P.B. Eleazer
Seasonally hundreds of buffaloes cross the Chobe River that serves as a natural boundary between Namibia and Botswana while they migrate between the floodplains in Namibia and the Chobe National Park renowned internationally for its variety of wild game. But since the Chobe is in flood the two herds of buffaloes were cut-off by floodwaters resulting in the beasts marooned on a small island near Kasika where they ran out of grazing prompting the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to send them the hay.
On Wednesday, Crispin Makata a principal game ranger in Caprivi said a four-man team he led started trucking through neighboring Botswana the feed to the stranded buffaloes in Namibia that recently traveled to the island where the beasts had run out of grazing. He said Savannah Lodge and the owners of Zambezi Queen a luxury riverboat for up-market tourists, availed boats that were used for the transportation of the fodder to the beasts once the team had complied with all the immigration formalities in Botswana.
Just a small part of a very large herd. It's not unusual in Chobe to see Cape Buffalo in herds of several hundred animals. Photo by Justin Eleazer
In addition, the principal game ranger noted that unlike in the year 2009 the beasts that were almost on the verge of starvation did not stampede for government-procured feed. Makata said some buffaloes in one group of the beasts seemed to have lost a lot of weight though not a single buffalo has starved and that the feeding proceeded very well. The only hiccup experienced was related to nature when game rangers were ordered to put down a female buffalo whose hind-leg was broken in a crocodile attack after the buffalo nearly ended up on the giant river predator’s meaty menu. After game rangers gunned down the buffalo its meat was handed over to members of the Kasika Conservancy who likewise distributed the venison to villagers in the conservancy.
The 80 bales of buffalo fodder stored at Susuwe where procured last year after hundreds of buffaloes also got trapped on Savanna Lodge and on a nearby island due to flooding. Makata expressed concern the buffaloes may run out of feed and he appealed to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other wildlife organizations to assist considering the water level will not subside soon after it recently rose in the Chobe swamping shops at Ngoma.
Apart from disrupting the seasonal migration of the buffaloes from Namibia to Chobe National Park floods in Caprivi have displaced over 10,000 people who are currently being housed in tarpaulins and tents pitched across Caprivi.
Fantastic photos of the Buffalo and a great story on how the authorities worked to ensure they didn’t starve as result of the flood.