Thirst Claims Wildlife in Hwange

Source: The Herald (Harare)

Date: 11 November 2005

Author: Anon

A water and grazing crisis, following four consecutive droughts, is looming at Hwange National Park with no solution in sight to save the dying wildlife.

This week, the National Park and Wildlife Management Authority hired 20 men to rehabilitate water trenches destroyed by elephants and to dredge all pans and compact the bottoms to reduce seepage of water in the over 14 000 square kilometre park.

Eighteen elephants, 53 buffaloes, one giraffe and many other smaller animals are reported to have already died of thirst and hunger.

The unbroken drought has resulted in the water table in the park receding to deeper levels.

Conservationists yesterday said the unexpected magnitude of the effects of the long drought, coupled with the unattended breakdown of borehole pumps, neglect to rebuild water trenches, unchecked siltation of dams and the prolonged shortage of fuel had left Hwange National Park on the verge of an ecological disaster.

They said lack of interest in the development of natural resource systems by the private sector, who seem not aware of the immense benefits that could be accrued from sound wildlife conservation, had compounded the situation in the park.

"This chaos could happen in other parks if outreach efforts by all stakeholders to get support from the corporate world for the sustainability of proper wildlife management are not strengthened," one conservationist said.

Another conservationist said although it was becoming increasingly evident since February this year that the park's water points could dry up before the onset of the rainy season, no contingency measures were put in place to deal with the situation.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority senior officials said they were currently overwhelmed with challenges that include upgrading of infrastructure in all 42 parks in the country. In view of this, they had appealed to the private sector, particularly in Hwange, to come to their aid and not to turn a blind eye to what was happening.

Hwange Colliery managing director Mr Godfrey Dzinomwa said his organisation was considering chipping in to address water problems being faced in the park.

"We have not yet moved in to help with the water situation, but we are considering doing so," he said.

Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema yesterday said much needed to be done in ensuring wildlife in Hwange was saved from the worsening effects of the drought.

"Water is being taken to selected pans to cater for small animals that are not elephants or buffaloes as there are the ones that are being affected most by the drought though not much is being said about that by the international media," Cde Nhema said.

He said the Ministry of Youth and Employment Creation had deployed a team of youths to help in the dredging of muddy water from some dams so that they could hold more water when the rains come.

"Safari operators in the area are helping with manpower to take water around the park. It is a cumbersome exercise that we need to urgently do now to save the animals.

"Major plans to avert such situations, such as purchasing spares for the repair of broken-down equipment, are also underway," he said.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority public relations manager Retired Major Edward Mbewe said owing to lessons learnt from the crisis, the authority was mooting various ideas for the future such as major capital projects that include concrete floor-bedded watering pans to curb rapid seepage of water.

He confirmed that the magnitude and effects of the drought were not expected, while other challenges, among them fuel shortages and the authority's insufficient foreign currency resource base to purchase more pumps, had worsened the situation.

"Another factor was the limited capacity of other wildlife farmers in the area to implement game water supply in a big way fuelled the migration of most animals to the park and strained our resources."

Rtd Maj Mbewe said the water shortages had largely affected small animals.

He said as a measure to save other animals, they had dug an approximately 2,5-kilometre-long trench with high-yielding pumps.

"Water from this place will be channelled to a central point in the park where animals may have easy access.

"We hope to spread boreholes throughout the park so that the impact of overgrazing by elephants will not be concentrated on a few areas only around existing watering points."

He said the park's elephant holding capacity of not more than 14 000 beasts had been overstretched to more than 50 000.

"We cannot cope with the ballooning population. Elephants are dying not only because of water shortages, but other contributing factors include severe stress that is caused by overpopulation and lack of sufficient and nutritious vegetation for feeding on," Rtd Maj Mbewe said.