Seven elephants were transferred last week from Namibia to the Cuatir nature reserve in southern Angola, due to the severe drought in Namibia, the reserve’s manager Stefan Van Wyk told media on August 15.
In total, a group of 30 elephants will be relocated to Cuatir (Cuando Cubango province), who until now lived across the border in another private reserve, Mount Etjo Safari Lodge, which has more than 8,000 animals.
Speaking to the media, the head of Cuatir, Stefan Van Wyk, stressed that this is the first time in 50 years that elephants have returned permanently to that Angolan region, due to the prolonged civil war that decimated much of the wildlife.
The conservationist explained that Namibia has been experiencing a drought for almost five years in the Okonjati area and that food has begun to run out in the reserve, leading to the need to relocate some animals.
“We started preparing for this move a year ago,” said Van Wyk, noting that Cuatir has “enough food, clean water and until 1974 had the largest area of elephants in Angola”.
In the Angolan wildlife reserve, which extends over 40,000 hectares, the elephants have an area of 20,000 hectares and will cohabit with gungas, kudus, impalas, red palanquins and other antelopes, zebras, giraffes and various other species that have been reintroduced over the years.