27 Aug 2019

Efforts are ongoing to save the large number of water species, which have been left stranded by the drying up of the Thamalakane River.

Maun Administration Authority chairperson, Mr Moedi Modiegi revealed during a recent a sub-council meeting that  the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) has been tasked with both relocating and providing water at some pools outside Maun to save the species as the drought might last long.

He said the DWNP’s water unit had already drilled some wells in the Chadichadi area.

Mr Modiegi said the drying up of the Thamalakane River had worsened as the inflow from the Angolan highlands had been very low, with both Angola and Namibia, having declared drought as early as January.

He said the situation had directly affected the Ngamiland district, adding that currently hippopotamuses and crocodiles were stuck in mud pools across the areas of Lake Ngami and Chadichadi Lagoon.

In Maun, he said there were few pools of water left in the river such as Backpackers and Maun Lodge areas, which were competed for by the hippos, crocodiles and people.

Councillors were also informed that a capture team had arrived in Maun to relocate all the hippos and crocodiles in pools within the village to save them and residents as they compete for the limited water resources.

Mr Modiegi said sign posts had been put near water bodies across Maun to alert people of the dangers of swimming in such, adding that a plan was in place to address schools around Maun on the dangers of using the said water bodies.

The chairperson also revealed that there had been suspected cases of anthrax since April 2019 after 20 elephants and 19 hippos died, adding that even though laboratory test proved to the contrary, clinical signs pointed to anthrax, hence, all the dead animals would be burnt together with their ivory as a precautionary measure.

With regard to human/wildlife conflict, Mr Modiegi pointed out that one person was killed by an elephant while three had been injured and were given the necessary medical attention.

On other issues, he stated that the district had accelerated the uptake of high impact interventions to reduce the impact of diarrheal diseases and malnutrition in an endeavor to prevent child mortality.

From April to June 2019, it was reported that the district registered a total of 2118 diarrhea cases and one death due to diarrhoea. Ends