Elephant Appetite Threatens Chobe

The Star – Wednesday 22 April 1987

Author: John Patten

The elephant population of Botswana is reckoned to be up to 50 000 and growing five percent a year. Culling is prohibited in the game parks and the question is being seriously raised in conservation circles whether the habitat can much longer stand the population increase. The population at Chobe has a density of eight a sq km, compared with only one a sq km in South Africa’s Kruger Park.

As April draws on, new vegetation growth to support the elephant herds cannot be expected, but already close to the Chobe River where many elephants water, the acacia trees on which they browse have been decimated. The elephants do not browse the teak trees, so gradually the teak forests are taking over from acacia, further endangering the food supplies. At present large herds of up to 40 elephant at a time come daily to the water’s edge looking healthy and strong. Later into the winter, however, things will look different.

Herds walk 40 km a day – In a herd of that size it would not be uncommon to see two or three elephants of under a year and several others no more than two years’ old. In the winter with acacia growth used up near the river, elephant herds are said to walk 40 km and more a day between their food sources and the water they need daily. That is when the very young can no longer stand the pace and the herds begin to feel the strain.

Some of the young just drop and die. But elephant herds still grow. The crunch, however, is coming. Some believe the Botswana government’s conservation policies cannot last without amendments taking account of the mounting problems. An American researcher, Mr George Califf, has begun work for the Botswana government on the movement of elephant within the fame parks. This information, together with more reliable census figures, should go some way to identifying the scope and intensity of the problem. Elephant are being tagged and will have their movements followed by radio signals.

It is not only the elephant populations, however, that are causing concern. As the growing numbers of elephant plunder the riverine bush for food, they increasingly endanger the Chobe bushbuck, an attractive small buck with distinctive white spots on a brown coat. Indigenous to a small area of Chobe and northern Zimbabwe, it lives near water and relies on bush cover. If not yet endangered, the Chobe bushbuck may in time become so.

Resident director and co-owner of the Chobe Game Lodge, Mr Jonathan Gibson, a keen conservationist, says the Botswana government’s policy is of one of minimum human interference. “One has to remember that the Chobe National Park and other parks are not fenced. The parks have hunting concessions outside them,” he said. “The elephant population can move where it likes with impunity, and at present is it not certain what their actual movements are. That is the reason for the collaring programme.”

Herds moved freely throughout Chobe and Caprivi and into the Wankie National Park in Zimbabwe. In Wankie, when culling was in progress, no more elephant could be found after only half the culling quota had been met. The others had moved off into Botswana. This had also been the experience in the hunting concessions. Elephants were wise and sensed danger quickly.

It was now intended to discover how many elephant there were, what their movements were, what carrying capacity of the land was and what the effects on vegetation would be from the expected population density. When hunting was previously allowed, is was having a very negative effect on the elephant herds. The elephants with the biggest tusks were the most vulnerable and hunting was disturbing natural selection. Hunting had also caused elephant to concentrate in the reserves where they could avoid the hunters.

When hunting was banned about five year ago, except for certain hunting concessions, the elephant herds were given a greater chance to disperse. In fact, the elephant herds had dispersed, Mr Gibson said. But the end to shooting elephant had also meant a faster population growth. “When it comes to culling, there are two different schools of thought. The elephant population is stressing, the existing environment in the riverine area, and one school argues that culling should take place to restore the balance.

“The other school says the acacias only developed in the Chobe area while there were cattle here and that the elephant are now busy restoring the natural environment to what is used to be. They believe the elephant should not be culled.