Inside Hwange’s elephant deaths

THE year 2023 closed on a grim note for Zimbabwean wildlife conservation amid revelations that at least 160 elephants and countless other species died due to a drought-induced water shortage in the Hwange National Park.

Some officials and conservation commentators were quick to blame the water crisis and the resulting wildlife deaths on claims that the elephant population has exceeded Hwange’s optimum carrying capacity of 45 000.

Alpha Media Holdings’ investigative unit, Truth Diggers, travelled to Hwange and Victoria Falls recently to meet conservationists and tourism industry players who blamed the water shortage on a heavy influx of not just elephants but buffaloes and several other plains game which migrated from Botswana in search of water.

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