Jumbos invade Mukuni area

MUKUNI residents in Kazungula and part of Livingstone are enduring a torrid time fending off stray elephants that destroy their crops and charge at people in villages.

Some residents in Siachiyasa and Nsongwe told the Daily Nation that they were spending sleepless nights trying to protect their property from the rampaging wild animals.

The residents said the elephants destroy fences to enter their homes in search of vegetables grown in backyard gardens.

Mr Bernard Phiri, a Siachiyasa resident, said the elephants were first spotted roaming around Nyanzabili Primary School.

“On two consecutive days, it passed through the main road heading to the palace just in the evening and people had to ward it off by clapping their hands, screaming and some beating containers,” Mr Phiri said.

“We are worried that if this problem is not solved, a life will be lost. My neighbour had his vegetables destroyed from his garden and he had to pluck off the stems to start afresh,” he said.

Ms Caroline Mudenda, a Nsongwe resident, said they were being forced to be innovative to keep the elephants at bay.

“They disturb our lives because we are now forced to guard our vegetable gardens all night. I rub elephant dung on the plants in the garden and l also spread the same dung around the vegetable plants to chase them away.

“However, this does not stop the elephants from destroying our vegetables as they just destroy them if they realise there is elephant dung,” she said.

The number of people killed by elephants in Kazungula and Livingstone districts continues to increase as the jumbos move away from their game range into human territory.