Buffaloes stranded - by Chrispin Inambao


WINDHOEK – A herd of 400 buffaloes on a small swathe of land in the vicinity of Kasika, in the Caprivi Region has been isolated by crocodile-infested floodwaters where over 10 000 people are now homeless because of seasonal flooding.

Caprivi Regional Governor, Leonard Mwilima, after attending the weekly Regional Disaster Risk Management Committee (RDRMC) meeting yesterday said: “Floods have trapped around 400 buffaloes in the area of Kasika” that has a large herd of the wild beasts that usually roam between Namibia and the nearby Chobe National Park in Botswana.

Last year, two herds of migratory buffaloes were similarly stranded on two islands in the same area. One of the stranded beasts caused extensive damage to the thatched roof of Savannah Lodge at Kasika, as they had to feed on the grass. They also resorted to eating plastic insulation covers of its electrical wiring out of desperation.

The dire situation was only averted after the Ministry of Environment and Tourism procured bales of dry fodder which they trucked through Botswana to the marooned animals whose numbers were also depleted by predatory crocodiles of the Chobe River.

Some of the stranded buffaloes died last year in stampedes caused particularly by the deafening noise from helicopters dispatched to Kasika on routine visits.

Yesterday, the Caprivi Regional Governor said: “We are closely looking at the plight of the buffaloes. Already we are in touch with officials from the Ministry of Environment [and Tourism] talking about how best we can provide grass to those stranded animals.”

Herds of elephants that have migrated from the plains along the Chobe and Linyanti rivers to unharvested maize fields in Linyanti have worsened an already precarious food situation caused by floods that have swamped some of the crop fields.

Though the RDRMC recently received a flotilla of four extra banana boats, the committee will need more boats to help villagers salvage some of the crops that are now submerged in floodwater from Lake Liambezi that also received significant inflows.

Meanwhile, the level of the Zambezi River whose overflow causes flooding mostly in the low-lying areas of Kabbe and in parts of Katima Rural constituency causing widespread flooding and ruin to huts and gravel roads yesterday swelled to 6.55 metres.

A few weeks ago, the water level of the Zambezi River reached 6.75 metres.

Last year on April 13, the water level rose to 7.30 metres and by April 14, 2009, the level of the Zambezi River reached a high watermark of 7.24 metres, said Mwilima.

Mwilima told New Era that the increase by 0.01 metre from the 6.54 recorded two days ago indicates an inconsistence in the rise and fall of the water level but noted hydrologists have warned another flood-bearing wave is expected from Zambia.

“So we have to remain as alert as possible… All I can say at this moment is we are still calling upon the people of the Caprivi Region, especially those residing in low-lying areas that they must continue to move to higher ground until further notice.”

“Despite the fact that we received extra banana boats, we might need reinforcements in terms of road and water transport because we are expecting another flood wave,” he said.

Mwilima said because those affected by floods have not heeded repeated radio appeals by the RDRMC.

‘The number of flood-displaced has risen to 10 451 people,’ who are being provided with tents for makeshift houses, three bags of 12.5 kg mealie-meal per household and water purification tablets being distributed through the Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS).

And despite the floods, the learning process has not been disrupted in Caprivi where there are 19 flood relocation centres that provide refuge to internally displaced people.

Several schools cut-off by floods such as Nsundwa, Itomba and Mbalasinte in Kabbe and Imukusi and Lisikili in Katima Rural have not yet been relocated though they have been for the ongoing flood relief programme.

But students from Namiyundu and Nankuntwe have all been evacuated to higher ground at Schuckmannsburg where they have started with makeshift classes while the ones from Muzii have been relocated to the safety of Kabbe and Iivilivinzi students are at Lusese.

The governor, who praised chiefs in all the flooded areas for giving moral and other support to his team, in the same vein appealed to the internally displaced to render a helping hand to teams of workers involved in the digging of pit latrines at the centres.

“We are also addressing the issue of sanitation. We are digging pit latrines. So it is important for members of the community to join members of the Regional Disaster Risk Management Committee working in those centres. They must not just look at them, they must be part and parcel of this exercise,” Mwilima stated.

I'll volunteer to shoot 50 of them!

I wish the people of the tribes there stranded well and they are in my prayers...

Thanks Kathi for posting!

quote:

Originally posted by Late-Bloomer:
I wish the people of the tribes there stranded well and they are in my prayers...

Thanks Kathi for posting!

That's kind of what I thought when I read it. Maybe I read it wrong, but if there are people stranded there, shouldn't they worry about them first and the buffalo later??

Buffaloes safe from crocs - by Irene !Hoaës

From The New Era



WINDHOEK - The Ministry of Environment and Tourism says the 450 buffaloes that are stranded near Kasika in Caprivi due to flood water will not all perish owing to crocodiles that have already preyed on a few of them.

“There is no danger in terms of predation. The crocodiles will not finish the herd,” explained the Deputy Director for Parks and Wildlife Management, Colgar Sikopo.

The buffaloes are cut off by floodwater on the less than two-hectare island.

According to Sikopo, it is natural for crocodiles to feed on the buffaloes.

He said the water that surrounds the island is shallow and the animals can see the crocodiles. However, when they have to venture into the water to feed on the grass, they are attacked by the crocodiles.

“They will survive the floods, there is no worry. We are monitoring them, the community guards are also in the area,” Sikopo added.

The only concern for the ministry is the fact that the two hectares are too small and thus limits grazing as the land is submerged by the floodwater.

He said two of the buffaloes were limping among the herd as a result of crocodile attacks, but maintained that the crocodiles would not finish the buffaloes.

One animal had to be put down, as its leg was broken after a crocodile attack.

Environment officials on Monday trucked 80 bales of vitamin-enriched fodder to the buffaloes stranded on the island.

Seasonally, hundreds of buffaloes cross the Chobe River, when they migrate between Namibia and Botswana.
According to officials on the site, one group of the herd seemed to have lost a lot of weight though not a single buffalo has starved to death.