Croc Kills Girl in Caprivi
Denver Kisting
21 April 2010



THE flood in the Caprivi Region has claimed its first victim: a 12-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile on Impalila Island last week.

According to Governor Leonard Mwilima, the crocodile attack was directly linked to the rising level of the Zambezi River, which brought crocodiles closer to areas where people lived.

By yesterday afternoon, the water level had risen to 7,1 metres - almost 0,5 metres up from last Thursday when the river level stood at 6,61 metres.

The governor warned that many people faced hunger because most of their crops were under water.

The worst affected areas are the Kabbe and Katima Rural constituencies.

"Most of the crops are already flooded with water and we are struggling to get boats to harvest the little that we can [save]. We expect them to go hungry. Definitely speaking, there will be a need to provide food - even after the flood," Mwilima said.

The fact that wild animals, such as elephants, were moving further inland because of the floods posed an even greater danger to what was left of crops, he said.


The number of people relocated to 19 camps remains at 10 451. More people were expected to be relocated soon and for that purpose the Regional Council urgently needed more tents, he added. He launched a renewed appeal to those still living in low-lying areas to move to higher ground.

Mwilima said he would be visiting the affected areas again today to reassess the situation.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Namibia Red Cross Society had joined hands with the Regional Council to minimise the flood's effects, the governor said.

Although they had started erecting pit latrines in the camps, sanitation still posed a serious health risk, he said.

PH John Wambaugh and I baited a croc on the Kwando. He had a huge drag. We never got him.
The Caprivi is mostly dry, hot, inhospitable place (esp in Oct/Nov), except immedidately around the Kwando, Linyati, Chobe, and Zambezi Rivers. There's a nice Hiway running down the middle of the Strip, but with Chobe National Park to the South, The Okavango to the further West, and Zambia and Angola to the North, and Zim/Hwange to the East, there are usually plenty of elephants, lions, and Crocs. The Kwando is beautiful, clear, and cold.

What a shame. They are big and bold there.

Here's a photograph of one on the Botswana side of the Chobe, right in this area, that we saw last year.



They are natural brutes, to whom we are food and nothing more.

As only a one month visitor to Africa (Zimbabwe), I guess I really should not try to sit in judgment on crocs. I am on record after any of Kathi's posts as being somewhat opposed to the continued existence of crocs on this planet. Yeah, I want this critter to disappear. The "educational" documentaries shown on US TV always tell us how the crocs have outlasted the dinosaurs - Why, exactly,is that a recommendation for their continued existence? I mean, after all, we Americans and British have wiped out the prairie bison of the Western US and brought the Bengal tiger nearly to extinction (a truly magnificent looking animal) - and we can't get rid of a truly awful critter - a damned reptile? I really don't think he is necessary to any "balance of nature" -and anyways, I don't like something that has me on his daily menu. (If I get back to Africa, can I use a quarter stick,OK, maybe to make sure,a half stick of dynamite on any waterhole right after rainy season?)