Wild side of conservation in Namibia

Protected areas have led to increase in conflict between humans and animals

WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA — Seven years ago, Zatrick Mbanga, a farmer from Namibia’s northeast Zambezi region, lost his right arm and foot in an attack by a hippo.

He had been tending to his maize crops after lighting a fire to deter wild animals that had been ravaging the plants.

Human-wildlife conflict is a fact of life in Namibia’s conservation areas, especially the Zambezi, where elephants, lions, crocodiles and hippos live in close proximity to crops, livestock and people.

Mbanga, who is now 48, is one of the lucky ones as many people have lost their lives in attacks by animals.

Statistics provided by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism show that between 2014 and 2016, 39 people were killed by wildlife — seven have been killed already this year — while last year 545 cattle and more than 200 goats were lost to predators.

Speaking at a conference on the issue, Lise Hanssen, a researcher who is leading the Kwando Carnivore Project in the Kavango and Zambezi, said that while vital conservation efforts mean wildlife can move freely between parks and are more protected, the flip side is greater conflict in communal farming areas.

Wildlife is plentiful in Zambezi, partly because it is tolerated by farmers who see the economic benefits from tourism.

More than 600 cattle were killed in the area between 2011 and 2016, while there were about 4,000 incidents of crop damage.

Mbanga has a wife and two children to support. He still farms and has around 20 cattle. Planting maize has become increasingly difficult nowadays he gets around his farm on a prosthetic leg, which was paid for by a local businessman.

Although the environment ministry does not compensate for injuries caused by wildlife, it does provide funds to conservation agencies to offset crop and livestock losses to farmers.

The Salambala Conservancy pays farmers 1,500 Namibian dollars ($114) for a cow lost to predators, and gives fixed sums for crop losses, well below the market rate.

Salambala also paid Mbanga 5,000 Namibian dollars to help him to recover.

Commercial farms also suffer from human-wildlife conflict. Helmke von Bach, a representative of about 75 farms in the Kamanjab area between Etosha National Park and Kunene conservation areas, said that it takes only a minute for an elephant to push over a windmill costing 80,000 Namibian dollars.

He estimated the average loss to each commercial farmer in the area annually at 375,000 Namibian dollars.

According to the CEO of the Namibian Chamber of the Environment, Chris Brown, the cost of wildlife damage to each conservancy member in Sanitatas Conservancy, in the northwest Kunene region, amounts to about 1,000 Namibian dollars per person per annum.

7 people have been killed by wildlife in Namibia this year already, according to the MET.