HERDS OF HIPPOS STRANDED IN DRYING PONDS AS DROUGHT RAVAGES BOTSWANA

• Southern Africa has been devastated by an ongoing drought, originating in Botswana in October 2023 

Herds of endangered hippos are facing death in the blistering heat of Botswana, left stranded and unable to move in drying ponds as drought ravages the southern African country.

Harrowing views show clusters of animals boxed together in the mud as they desperately try to cool off and avoid sunburn, with temperatures soaring and moisture evaporating from the earth.

While seasonal flooding usually makes the Okavango Delta a lush habitat for wildlife, the dried-up Thamalakane River has forced herds of hippos to head for natural water reserves close to the tourist town of Maun or risk slow and painful deaths from dehydration and heat exhaustion.

Botswana is home to one of the world's largest populations of hippos living in the wild, estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

'The riverine vegetation is poor and the hippo in Ngamiland (northwestern district) depends on the water flowing through the Okavango Delta systems,' said Lesego Moseki, spokesperson for Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) in Botswana's capital Gaborone.

They were still looking into the how many hippos had died in the pools, he said. 

Hippos have thick but sensitive skin, meaning they need to bathe regularly to avoid sunburn and usually live in humid areas.

Without water, they can become aggressive and approach villages.

Local authorities are calling for hippos to be relocated to reserves to avoid conflict with humans.

Southern Africa has been affected by severe drought in recent months, caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has threatened harvests and plunged millions into hunger.

El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. 

Several countries in the region have recently declared a state of national disaster, with an estimated 20 million people in the south facing 'acute hunger', per the United Nations.

Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are among those warning of catastrophe and a potential risk to life with droughts decimating livestock and causing dramatic spikes in the price of staple crops.

In February, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Mozambique and Botswana received just a fifth of the rainfall they would typically expect.

Thousands of cattle were reported to have died in Malawi after walking into fields still muddy from last year's rain and getting stuck, according to relief organisation CARE.

The temperature in southern Africa has also risen by between 1.04 and 1.8 Celsius in the past 50 years, according to the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, creating a climate change 'hot spot' in terms of 'extremes'. 

The drought in Botswana began as early as October 2023, according to a report by the European Commission.

It then spread to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, and continues to affect most of southern Africa today.

Botswana alone lost at least 300 elephants in mysterious circumstances last year, according to Grace Muzila, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, reflecting on the devastation brought by the drought.

'Wild animals get stuck in the mud desperately looking for water and they die. The experience is heartbreaking,' she said.

Southern Africa's human population has also been blighted by the reduced availability of food and water, reporting tragic losses.

Francesca Erdelmann, the World Food Programme's country director for Zimbabwe, said last year's harvest was bad, but this season is even worse. 'This is not a normal circumstance,' she said.

Joseph Nleya, a 77-year-old traditional leader in Mangwe, Zimbabwe, said he doesn't remember it being this hot, this dry, this desperate. 

'Dams have no water, riverbeds are dry and boreholes are few. We were relying on wild fruits, but they have also dried up,' he said. 

American aid agency USAID has since stepped in with a life-saving handout, bringing some relief to the area.

An estimated 9 million people, half of them children, still need help in Malawi. 

More than 6 million in Zambia, 3 million of them children, are impacted by the drought, UNICEF said. 

That's nearly half of Malawi's population and 30% of Zambia's. 

'Distressingly, extreme weather is expected to be the norm in eastern and southern Africa in the years to come,' said Eva Kadilli, UNICEF's regional director. 

With this year’s harvest a write-off, millions in Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar won’t be able to feed themselves well into 2025. 

USAID’s Famine Early Warning System estimated that 20 million people would require food relief in southern Africa in the first few months of 2024.

Many won’t get that help, as aid agencies also have limited resources amid a global hunger crisis and a cut in humanitarian funding by governments.

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2024-04-26T16:22:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd