Namibia: Calls to Control Tourism Access to Some Rivers

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New Era (Windhoek)

28 August 2008
Posted to the web 28 August 2008

Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek

Director of Parks and Wildlife Management, Ben Beytell, says some rivers should be closed for normal tourism access as a way of reducing the elephant-human conflict.

Beytell said it was his opinion that this should be the ministry's next proposal to Cabinet.

He said there was an enormous elephant-human conflict problem caused mainly because of irresponsible and uncontrolled tourism activities in such areas. Although this is happening near all rivers where elephants live, the problem along Ugab River in the Omatjete area was worse.

"There are about 28 elephants causing havoc in the farming community and something must have caused them to move out of the Ugab River," he said.

Beytell said some tour operators chase and drive behind elephants for tourists to see, yet this drives the jumbos out of their habitats.

Communities in the Daures constituency say they are living in fear because elephants destroy water infrastructure, crop fields and even homesteads, and chase cattle herders. At times, community members sleep in the mountains for fear of the jumbos that roam round at night.

He said operators need to look at the impact that tourism has in such areas, because due to the traffic, small calves are left behind, causing mortalities and also making the elephants more aggressive.

The Ugab elephant population was established 20 years ago from the north.

Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, told the press on Monday that the aggressiveness of elephants and their new migration patterns inland was an indication of disturbance probably caused by irresponsible eco-tourism and vehicles.

Last year, elephants killed seven people in Caprivi, Kavango, and Kunene and north of Etosha National Park.

Recently, five officials of the ministry were lucky to escape death when a wounded adult elephant nearly overturned their vehicle. The elephant was shot dead.

The ministry has since formulated a National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict, which is due for discussion by Cabinet for approval, Nandi-Ndaitwah said recently.

"I will therefore ask indulgence from our communities affected by this problem as we are busy finding solutions for education on incidents of this sensitive issue of human-wildlife conflict," she added.

A World Wide Fund for Nature report titled "Common Ground", which assesses cases of human-wildlife conflict, focusing on elephants as a flagship of these conflicts said as a result of the income derived from sustainable use of wildlife and eco-tourism in conservancies, rural communities have positive attitudes towards wildlife.

However, larger wildlife populations were giving rise to increased human-wildlife conflict. In 2005, more than 3100 problem incidents were reported countrywide in conservancies, a number which increased to 5600 in 2006.

The report said that elephant-related conflict cost communal farmers around US$1 million a year.

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