MAUN, Botswana: Herds of endangered hippos caught within the mud of dried-up ponds are at risk of dying in drought-struck Botswana, conservation authorities instructed AFP on Friday (Apr 26).
Southern Africa has been affected by extreme drought, attributable to the El Nino climate phenomenon, which has threatened harvests and plunged hundreds of thousands into starvation. A number of international locations within the area have not too long ago declared a state of nationwide catastrophe.
Close to the huge wetlands of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, the dried-up Thamalakane River has compelled herds of hippos to go for pure water reserves near the vacationer city of Maun.
“The river system dries up and animals are in a compromised state of affairs,” mentioned Lesego Moseki, spokesperson for the Division of Wildlife and Nationwide Parks (DWNP) in Botswana’s capital Gaborone.
Botswana is residence to one of many world’s largest populations of hippos residing within the wild, estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
