More than 80 buffaloes drowned this week after stampeding into the Chobe River on Namibia’s border with Botswana.
Image used for illustrative purposes/Miguel Alcântara/Unsplash
According to Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, the herd plunged from a cliff into the river in the early hours of the morning while fleeing lions. The mass panic caused the animals to trample over one another, leading to the deaths.
This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the region. In 2018, roughly 400 buffaloes died under similar circumstances along the Chobe, which flows through Botswana’s famed Chobe National Park – a safari hotspot renowned for its vast populations of elephants, buffaloes, and giraffes.
Officials from Namibia’s Kabulabula Conservancy explained that buffaloes often attempt to escape predators by crossing into Namibian territory, but the terrain can be treacherous.
“Whenever they are chased by lions, they try to cross over into Namibia and start trampling each other,” conservancy representative Mbeha Tadeus told the BBC.
The ministry confirmed that the carcasses from this week’s tragedy would not go to waste. The meat is being distributed to local communities living near the river, a practice also captured in video footage shared by Namibia’s national broadcaster, NBC.
While the official ministry count puts the number of dead buffaloes at more than 80, NBC reported that as many as 90 may have perished in the incident, which took place around 05:00 local time.
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