The weather recently turned cloudy in Wangi National Park in Zimbabwe, but these clouds carrying rain came late after the death of a herd of about a hundred elephants as a result of a long drought recorded at the beginning of the summer in the southern hemisphere.
The park, which covers an area of 14,600 square kilometers, includes more than 45,000 savanna elephants, which are so numerous that they pose a threat to the environment.
The scene in the park is heartbreaking… Elephant carcasses stand out in a landscape where rain has been delayed for more than six weeks and the temperature usually reaches 40 degrees Celsius.
Some elephants fell into dry holes, while a number of them spent their last hours in the shade of trees. Many of them form small forests.
In recent weeks, ranger Simba Marozva and his colleagues have been walking through the park daily searching for more elephant carcasses.
On average, an elephant drinks more than two hundred liters of water and eats 140 kilograms of food per day.
More than 200 elephants died due to drought in 2019, while rangers indicate that the current situation is more dangerous.
Searching for water puts elephants at risk, as they come dangerously close to populated areas on the outskirts of the park. When they are thirsty, they dive into home or hotel swimming pools or drink from water points contaminated with animal carcasses.
– Thirst
Wangi National Park forms part of a vast protected area, including the Okavango Delta and the majestic Zambezi River.
An aerial census conducted in 2022 indicates that the number of elephants in this region exceeds 225 thousand elephants.
While tens of thousands of elephants have been killed by poachers across Africa since the 1970s, this protected area is considered successful because elephant numbers are growing.
The pressure on the park's resources has become unacceptable, at a time when climate change poses an additional threat.
Conservationists say Zimbabwe's parks contain twice their capacity for elephants.
Zimbabwe Parks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo believes that the death of elephants in Wangi has become a “major problem,” but it is not surprising given their numbers.
He says, “We expected this result because the weather is hot and the rain is still very light today,” adding, “The animals suffer from this stress and then die.”
He continues, “We lost 112 elephants,” specifically “the old, young, and sick ones,” between September and the end of November.
He added, “They spend 50 or 60 meters from the water source, because they are unable to bear the distance they travel to find food and drink,” expressing his relief that “light rain” has fallen in recent days.
Climate warming, which causes record high temperatures and increases the risk of prolonged heat waves, affects other types of animals. “But we pay extra attention to elephants, given the size of their carcasses,” Farao says.
Covered with dry grasses and leafless trees, Wangi National Park is equipped with solar-powered boreholes to access ever-lowering water levels.
The severity of droughts was exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon. Dry wells force elephants and other wildlife to travel long distances in search of water.
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