Inside Hwange’s elephant deaths

THE year 2023 closed on a grim note for Zimbabwean wildlife conservation amid revelations that at least 160 elephants and countless other species died due to a drought-induced water shortage in the Hwange National Park. Some officials and conservation commentators were quick to blame the water crisis and the resulting wildlife deaths on claims that the elephant population has exceeded Hwange’s optimum carrying capacity of 45 000.

Alpha Media Holdings’ investigative unit, Truth Diggers, travelled to Hwange and Victoria Falls recently to meet conservationists and tourism industry players who blamed the water shortage on a heavy influx of not just elephants but buffaloes and several other plains game which migrated from Botswana in search of water.

A safari industry source said elephants from Botswana were migrating in droves to Zimbabwe as they are attracted by the success recorded by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) and its private wildlife conservation partners in the provision of wildlife water infrastructure. Although Hwange had adequate and wellmaintained wildlife water infrastructure, it could not cope with the heavy influx of elephants and other wildlife species from Botswana, the source said.

Tour guide Prince Tshuma said there had been a gradual build-up of elephant concentrations in the north-western part of Hwange National Park. While this was previously limited to the dry season later in the year, Tshuma believes that most elephants which migrated into Zimbabwe over the past three years have not returned to dispersal zones in Chobe because there is no water.

“From early 2023, there were obvious signs that more elephants than usual were crossing from Chobe (Botswana) into Hwange (Zimbabwe). By February, there was heavy elephant concentration around water sources in Matetsi, Robbins Camp and Pandamatenga where ZimParks and its partners run a well-maintained network of solar-powered water-holes.

“As the numbers increased, tour guides in Botswana stopped taking tourists to some parts of Chobe because the animals looked thin, distressed and agitated by the drought. The elephants which crossed into Zimbabwe doubled the demand for water and by November, all species of wildlife were dying en-masse around water-holes in Hwange,”Tshuma said.

Another safari industry source said the impact of the ongoing wildlife water crisis in Hwange would have been less severe if Botswana had played its part by providing enough water for its huge wildlife population.

“The hard truth is that the wildlife water crisis in Hwange was made in Botswana. For more than a decade, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) has deliberately neglected or failed to maintain wildlife water infrastructure in Chobe National Park. DNPW has many natural water sources and solar-powered boreholes in Chobe, but all are crumbling due to neglect. We have raised the issue of wildlife water security in cross-border collaborative meetings, but our Botswana counterparts cannot act because the provision of water for wildlife is the duty of the DNPW or its authorised partners,” said one safari industry source who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the Press.

Some senior DNPW game rangers who spoke to Truth Diggers confirmed that the wildlife water infrastructure around Chobe is crumbling due to lack of maintenance. They supplied a paper trail of evidence which shows that DNPW ignored several warnings of what was then an “impending” wildlife water crisis in Chobe.

According to documents that Truth Diggers obtained from DNPW sources, the authority ignored at least six warnings of an impending wildlife water crisis in Chobe between mid-2019 and late 2023.

On July 28, 2019, elephant conservation group Elephants Without Borders (EWB) wrote to former DNPW director Kabelo Senyatso to report infrastructure breakdowns and requested permission to repair key water-holes on three concessions with huge elephant concentrations.

“EWB would like to collaborate with DNPW in equipping and maintaining artificial boreholes in the Chobe elephant heartland, specifically in the NG42, CT2 and CT3 (concessions). Since 2014, these boreholes have not been pumping any water for wildlife. Coinciding with this cessation of supply, the elephants have expanded their range further south (of Chobe) and are causing problems,” EWB director Mike Chase wrote.

The organisation offered to pay the costs of repairs, reequipment and conversion of borehole motors in Domtshetshu (CT3), Tamafupa (CT2), Masame (NG32) and Tlou (NG32) from diesel-powered to self-sustaining solar-powered water plants. Further correspondence between the two parties proves that DNPW never responded to or acknowledged receipt of the letter and request for permission to help.

More letters accompanied by photographic evidence of the collapse of wildlife water infrastructure were sent by EWB to DNPW in 2020 and 2021.

Truth Diggers is in possession of the paper trail showing that it took the DWNP four years to respond to the 2019 EWB offer to refurbish and convert artificial waterholes in the NG42, CT2 and CT3 from diesel to solar power.

“Regarding your offer, we are still consulting internally within government and should revert to you early next week. My apologies that this took longer than planned, but part of the engagement involves technical agencies outside the DWNP, which I cannot push as much as I would DWNP personnel. Makondo also informed me of your offer to repair the Sedudu artificial waterhole in Chobe National Park. I have delegated decisionmaking on this specific matter to him,” Senyatso told EWB in a letter dated August 2, 2022.

On February 22, 2023, EWB again wrote to Senyatso and attached pictorial evidence of broken down solar-powered boreholes, including some that were restored and upgraded by the DNPW late in 2022.

“On 22 February 2023, I visited the A33 waterhole on the CT3. The solar panels and water outlet block are damaged, rendering it inoperable. There is no protective barrier around the solar panels, without which damage by people and wildlife will continue to disrupt water flows. Simple stone traps, gum-poles or an electric fence enclosure will help to protect this infrastructure. EWB offer to repair this newly-equipped waterhole in advance of the 2023 dry season and hopes you will give us permission to restore this critical water source for wildlife. Our (previous) offer to repair wildlife watering holes on the NG42 concession is still on the table,” EWB director Mike Chase wrote.