Africa-Press – Botswana. Chobe District has recorded two deaths due to buffalo attacks between January and March this year.
Addressing the Chobe District Council meeting in Kasane this week, Council Chairperson, Mr Chimney Mululwani, said 148 incidents of human wildlife conflict were also recorded since January.
He highlighted that most of the conflict cases were caused by elephants, lions and buffaloes across the district.
He said despite the fact that wild animals were a source of funds through tourism they posed a challenge for the district. He lamented the geographical location of the village, saying they were between the Chobe River and the forest reserve where movement of wildlife between occurred daily.
However, Mr Mululwani said the council had intensified holistic and integrated systems to combat human wildlife conflict. He said some hot spots for confrontation and conflict were being debushed as well as schools and open areas.
Mr Mululwani also said 48 cases had been compensated at an amount of about P300 000, adding that in order to speed up compensation the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) had introduced Pula cards. Pertaining to the 2023 hunting season, the chairperson stated that hunting started in April by both the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust (CECT) and PALEKA Community Conservation Trust.
He added that their hunting quotas were procured at close to P5 million and P6 million for CECT and PALEKA respectively. He said the hunting season would end in September.
Mr Mululwani also noted that the Ngoma Campsite was allocated the PALEKA Trust in 2020 by government to diversify its revenue streams and augment the funds generated through hunting.
He said the campsite had been renovated but was not operating pending the signing of agreements between the trust and DWNP.
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