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The Good Friday
Elephant
Certainly, most
Livingstone residents know about it, but how many other people know?
Probably very few. And what is more, how can we prevent this
happening again?
Below are a
series of quotes from an article by Rod Nordland which appeared in
the 13 April edition of Newsweek which will give you the gist of the
story, of how one magnificent elephant met his death:
QUOTE:
“… as he picked his way across from Zimbabwe, swimming from
island to island along an ancient elephant corridor, a changed world
was waiting on the Zambia side of the border as well …. With
poachers and hunters at his back, and tourists sipping sundowners
ahead, the elephant foundered and was washed downstream, plunging
over the … Victoria Falls. He wouldn't have had a chance of
survival.
Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) Ranger Kenneth Nyambe,
who is stationed on the grounds of the Royal Livingstone to keep
guests from wandering into the hindquarters of zebras and to protect
them from mugging by troops of baboons, said he heard a commotion
from the hotel's riverfront sundeck about 4.20 p.m. last Friday. A
crowd had gathered to watch what witnesses described as a 6-ton bull
elephant (medium large, as they go) leading two smaller elephants, a
male and a female, across the river. Elephants are good swimmers,
but as the river cascades toward the falls, the current goes at
almost 25 miles per hour. The elephant got as far as the last islet
in front of the hotel and then swam the channel, making it almost to
the hotel side, according to accounts from several eyewitnesses. "He
almost made it and we were all cheering," said senior waiter Kelvin
Ng'andu, who was on duty that evening. The site is a popular place
to watch the sunset, and the falls are close enough to see mist
forming above the precipice, rising directly into cloud formations.
But in front of the elephant was a bank of sharp rocks, topped by
the hotel’s electrified fence; the elephant turned back and tried to
swim the channel a second time, but was swept downstream, constantly
trying to swim back against the current.
As Nyambe and Ng'andu described it, a hush descended over
the scores of spectators. "It was a very sad struggle, we could all
put ourselves in the boots of that animal," Ng'andu said. "Some
people were crying, no one was laughing." Occasionally the animal
would get a grip on the rocks or a spit of island, then lose it. The
struggle went on for half an hour, with the elephant screaming
piteously whenever it could blow the water from its throat, through
the trunk. Its companions returned the calls, but remained on the
island on the other side. "Tons and tons of flesh and bones, and
exhaustion just occurs," said Isaac Kanguya of the Zambian National
Heritage Conservation Commission. "We just watched helplessly as it
went over," Nsovu said.
 At 4:55pm, ranger Nyambe said, the elephant disappeared
over the main part of the falls, tumbling more than 400 feet into
the Boiling Pot, as it's called, at the bottom. "I swear we could
see the splash a moment later," Ng'andu said. "It's an endangered
animal and if we lose one we never get it back."
The Good Friday elephant wasn't the first to perish that
way this year. Officials at the local warden's office of ZAWA, who
asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to
the press, said they had three confirmed cases of live elephants
being washed over Victoria Falls this year, all since the recent
rainy season ended. Their carcasses were found by ZAWA rangers and
stripped of their valuable ivory, in one of the gorges many miles
below the falls. "This has never happened before this year that
anyone can remember," one said. The ZAWA officials say the presence
of the Royal Livingstone on an established elephant corridor, plus
the high water, and increased movement from Zimbabwe, were all to
blame. The Livingstone hotel spokesman disputed that the hotel was
on a corridor, saying the main elephant crossing in the area is more
than three miles farther upstream. But elephants are often seen in
the dry season crossing even at the lip of the falls in front of the
hotel. …. Kanguya of the Heritage Commission acknowledged that
hotels like the Royal Livingstone were built on elephant corridors,
but says that measures such as fold-down fences have managed to
alter their routes so they could safely cross. But with the river
as high as it is now, the electrified fences of the hotel grounds
are right at river's edge…. "It's something we can manage by
striking a balance," he said. "No overdevelopment at the expense of
conservation, and no overconservation at the expense of tourism."
END QUOTE
There is no point at this stage in a big argument on
whether Sun International should have been built where it was or
not. It has been built (as was the Mosi oa Tunya Hotel before it)
and Livingstone and the entire country are benefiting from the many
tourists they bring into the country each year.
For the big picture, what needs to be done is for the
various Government organs (ZAWA, ECZ etc) to ensure that any
development that is proposed is carefully scrutinised to ensure that
corridors are not blocked off, so that we can ensure safe transit
for our majestic elephants and any other game. We all know there is
little enough left in the country.
And for the small picture, perhaps Sun could move their
fence back a little to ensure that there is a corridor running
parallel to the river along which elephants can move. We know where
the high watermark is, so now know where the fence could be placed.
Let’s not lose anymore elephants unnecessarily. |
June
2007