Nearly 100 buffaloes die in Namibia stampede
Nearly 100 buffaloes drowned after fleeing lions, with meat distributed to local communities amid concerns over river pollution, officials said.
- In late 2023, a herd of over a hundred buffaloes drowned in Namibia’s Chobe River after being driven into the water by a pride of lions originating from nearby Botswana.
- The herd escaped along the Namibia-Botswana border but plunged down a steep cliff into the river, causing some buffaloes to trample one another.
- Local residents in Kabulabula gathered meat from the carcasses, following tradition, while authorities urged caution to avoid health risks.
- Ndeshipanda Hamunyela, the ministry’s spokesperson, explained that the meat would be shared with local communities nearby, with participation from regional partners.
- Conservationists cautioned that the rotting remains may contaminate the waterway and draw predators closer to nearby communities, while inquiries into the cause of the drowning are ongoing.
More than 80 buffaloes were killed after they trampled over each other and drowned in a river, Namibia’s environment and tourism department has said.
The buffaloes were being chased by lions in neighbouring Botswana when they “fell from a deep cliff” into the Chobe River on the Namibian side of the border, it added in a statement.
Hundreds of buffaloes have been killed in similar circumstances in the past.
In one of the worst cases, around 400 died in 2018 after they ran into the river, which flows through Botswana’s Chobe National Park, a major tourist attraction known for its huge number of elephants, buffaloes and giraffes.
An official at Namibia’s Kabulabula Conservancy told the BBC the herd of buffaloes was fleeing lions in Chobe National Park.
“Whenever they are chased by lions, they try to cross over into Namibia and start [trampling over] each other,” the conservancy’s Mbeha Tadeus said.
A spokesperson for the Namibian Environment, Forestry and Tourism Ministry, Ndeshipanda Hamunyela, confirmed that the animals came from Botswana, but could not say whether they were from Chobe National Park.
Ms Hamunyela told the BBC that the meat from the carcasses would be “distributed to communities in the immediate area”.
In a video shared by the Namibian public broadcaster, NBC, on its X page, residents can be seen dividing the meat among themselves near the banks of the river.
The NBC put the number of buffaloes killed at 90, reporting that the incident happened at around 05:00 local time (07:00 GMT).
