Botswana stray elephants driven back

Beitbridge Bureau
April 29. 2009

VILLAGERS in the Shashe area of Beitbridge District have every reason to smile after a herd of stray elephants from Botswana was driven back to the neighbouring country.

The elephants from Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana were causing havoc around Shashe and the surrounding areas where they were destroying crops in the fields.

In an interview yesterday, the ward councillor for the area, Councillor Enock Ndou, said the Beitbridge Rural District Council had to contract game scouts from Tuli Safaris following an appeal by villagers in the area.

"As the local authority, we had to contract game rangers from Tuli Safaris under the Problem Animal Control programme, who then managed to scare the jumbos away and we are therefore glad now that the problem has been addressed villagers will be able to harvest their crops," he said.

Cllr Ndou said the pulling out under unclear circumstances of a local safari operator, who had been granted a hunting concession by council further compounded the situation.

The development resulted in the local authority contracting Tuli Safaris to help in driving away the elephants back to Mashatu Game Reserve. The elephants descended on Shashe Irrigation Scheme, where they left a trail of destruction.

The irrigation scheme borders Mashatu Game Reserve, a vast safari land, which is part of the Trans-Frontier Conversation Area which integrates Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Cllr Ndou said an electrical fence would soon be erected at Shashe Irrigation Scheme under the TFCA initiative in a move aimed at deterring elephants from straying into the fields and destroying crops.

Several villagers in the areas around the drought-prone Beitbridge district rely mostly on irrigation farming.

Shashe village is situated at the confluence of Shashe and Limpopo rivers.

Cllr Ndou however, said hyenas and jackals continued to cause problems in some sections of Ward 8 as they feed on villagers’ livestock.

"We are however, worried about the presence of hyenas and jackals that continue to kill our livestock, especially in surrounding areas such as Masera and we are also appealing for assistance in that regard," he said.

Meanwhile, Cllr Ndou also appealed to government and public transport operators to assist the local community, which continues to face transport problems following the breakdown of a government bus, which used to service the route.

"We are appealing to both bus operators and Government to assist us with transport especially people of Maramani area, which is largely a tourist zone under the TFCA.

"The area lacks reliable transport and villagers rely on private transport operators who normally charge exorbitant fares, which are way beyond the reach of an average person. The fares range between R100 and R150 for a distance of less than 100km," he said. The road linking Beitbridge town and Maramani was badly damaged following the recent heavy rains that pounced several parts of the country.