Jumbos invade Onesi houses (Namibia)
Jumbos invade Onesi houses (Namibia)
Paulus Kiiyala Shiku, New Era
June 15, 2022
See link https://neweralive.na/posts/jumbos-invade-onesi-houses for
photo.
A herd of elephants with babies invaded and continued to damage houses and
fences at Oshikondailongo village in the Onesi constituency.
Oshikondailongo is located at the edge of the Uukolonkadhi community
forest, 17 kilometres west of the Onesi settlement in the Omusati region.
The jumbos gave villagers a rude awakening for the first time last Friday,
feeding on their melons that were collected from the fields and stored
inside the houses. Their mahangu is now at the threshing area, and is also
at risk as the elephants might start feeding on it after their favourite
melons are finished.
The damage continued until yesterday, and is expected to last until the
pachyderms are driven away.
The environment ministry’s spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said a team would
attend to the incident. “It is a given that the ministry will make sure the
elephants are kept far from the fields. However, we need to realise that
this is the time when elephants are moving in search of water as it is a
dry season.”
Muyunda said since farmers know that the elephants are in the area, they
have to be cautious.
The councillor of the Onesi constituency Festus Petrus told New Era
yesterday that the constituents called him on Thursday to inform him about
the situation.
He rushed to the area to inspect and inform the officials of the ministry
of environment about the damages caused by the elephants, and also
requested them to send game rangers to drive them away. “The officials
assured me that they will send the rangers as soon as possible to keep the
elephants away from the houses and minimise losses,” said Petrus.
He observed that these are dangerous animals which can kill humans,
especially when provoked, and villagers should stay alert and safe when
they are around. “I don’t want to think of a situation where someone is
killed by elephants there, so people must stay away and exercise caution
specifically at night because the elephants visit in the night.”
The councillor said this is the season when farmers drink Oshitanga and
some get intoxicated, which is dangerous when elephants are in the area.
Oshitanga is a traditional brew made from boiled watermelon juice to which
mahangu flour is added, and it is left to ferment overnight before it is
ready to drink. It is popular with Aakolonkadhi people every harvest season
when the watermelons are ripe.
“They must stay sober, and avoid walking drunk in the night because they
might meet elephants and get hurt or killed,” Petrus warned.
Ten people were killed through crocodile, hippo and elephant attacks in
2021, Namibia’s Environment and Tourism minister Pohamba said in April
2022.
As the population grows, most traditional authorities have expanded land
boundaries deep in the forests to accommodate people who need land to
cultivate and build houses.
As such, people have encroached on the elephants’ space, causing
human-wildlife conflict, as they now compete for water and grazing.
“This is an area where elephants used to live before the fields, so they
will from time to time return to their old grazing grounds in search of
water. It is even worse now that they tasted watermelons. We should expect
them every harvest season,” the councillor said.
Julius Johannes, one of the affected farmers whose house was destroyed,
told this publication yesterday that the jumbos finished all his melons.
They visited his house on three consecutive days. He said fortunately,
there was nobody in the house when the elephants pushed it down to get
access to the melons. “We were not home Friday night. I cannot imagine what
could have happened if we were inside.’’
The farmer pleaded that the wild animals be driven away from the area
before they completely wipe out their harvest and leave them to starve.
“They must come and chase their things away. It is all that I ask. They
keep coming back and cause more damage, and we cannot do anything.”
Johannes’ neighbour, Shikongo Aludhilu, said he called the ministry of
environment to compensate or assist him to repair his fence and gate, but
they failed.
“We need to get the ministry to cover for the losses we experienced from
elephants,” Aludhilu told New Era.