Star Metro - Nearly 100 buffaloes die in Namibia stampede

The stampede happened around 5:00 am (0300 GMT) along the Chobe River, in the Zambezi conservation area, a unique wildlife-rich zone of waterfalls, forests and marshes.

The lions had chased the buffaloes from neighbouring Botswana, spokesperson for the tourism ministry Ndeshipanda Hamunyela told AFP.

"It is an unfortunate incident. The animals fell from a deep cliff down into the river and some tumbled over each other," she said.

Footage posted on social media by state broadcaster Namibia Broadcasting Corporation showed about a dozen men with axes chopping up the buffalo carcasses and loading the meat onto pickup trucks.

"The ministry and other law enforcement officials are on site to maintain law and order," said Hamunyela.

"The meat will be distributed to communities in the immediate area by the ministry with the involvement of other relevant stakeholders in the region," she said.

Namibia, a semi-desert southern African country, earns around seven percent of its gross domestic product from tourism.

In October 2023, more than 100 buffaloes chased by a pride of 12 lions died in a mass drowning in Chobe River, which flows along the northeastern border of Chobe National Park. The park is famous for the large breeding herds of elephants, the African buffalo, giraffes and sable antelopes.

Across the border in 2018, more than 400 buffaloes, also believed to have been chased by lions, drowned in a river in northern Botswana.

Buffalo river drownings are not uncommon in the region, but the numbers are usually small.

While past incidents have seen locals rush to the scene for free meat, conservationists warn the mass drownings risk polluting rivers and drawing predators closer to human settlements.

S.Lapointe--SMC