Staff Reporter
A survey by the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), focusing on the five KAZA countries, shows that elephant populations are stable. Namibia has a total of 21 090 elephants, while Botswana has the highest number of elephant population, with 131 909 elephants counted in the country.
KAZA TFCA includes Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, which share common international borders along the Okavango and Zambezi River basins.
The estimated elephant population for the region, according to the just-released KAZA survey, was calculated at 227 900, indicating that the population appears stable. Statistics from the survey revealed that Angola has 5,983 elephants, Zambia a total of 3 840, while Zimbabwe has 65 028 elephants.
Delivering his opening remarks at the launch of the survey this week, Zambia’s Minister of Tourism, Rodney Sikumba, who is also the KAZA Ministerial Committee Chair, reflected on the survey’s scale and scope, “Flying over this expansive terrain, meticulously adhering to rigorous scientific standards, while surveying Africa’s largest contiguous elephant population, is a testament to the collective dedication and perseverance of all involved.”
Philda Kereng of Botswana welcomed the survey as it would help foster human-wildlife coexistence, facilitate integrated land-use planning, including science-based re-evaluation of fencing policy, nurture sustainable tourism development, promote connectivity in the landscape, and align with the various objectives of the KAZA elephant conservation and management framework.
Heather Sibungo of Namibia also shared remarks on the survey findings, saying that this survey comes not long after Namibia successfully held the first national Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference, where it emerged that there was an urgent need for robust scientific data to guide policy and decision-making, including the management of human-wildlife conflict.
“We undertook this unprecedented aerial survey to provide an accurate estimate of the number of live elephants, elephant carcasses, and other large herbivores in this region that is home to more than half of the savanna elephant herds in Africa,” said Dr. Nyambe Nyambe, Executive Director of the KAZA Secretariat. “Dr. Nyambe added that this rich dataset now gives KAZA countries the opportunity to understand the health of our ecosystems and implement best practices for wildlife management and human-wildlife coexistence.
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