THE Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism says the hippos at Wuparo Conservancy in the Zambezi region are not in a dire situation, as reported in the media recently.
“Following the reports, the ministry sent officials to the site to establish the condition of the hippos.
“It has so far been established that there are approximately 32 hippos in the pool. No mortalities have been reported to date,” environment spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said in a statement on Monday.
The report by online publication Namibia Daily News stated that about 44 hippos were stuck in a small natural pool for several months, unable to get out and reach the main river as the water that normally feeds the channel had dried up. The report also said one hippo calf had died.
Muyunda said the situation is not as critical as was reported, but that the ministry was rectifying the matter.
“The ministry will install a bigger capacity pump and provide fuel to increase the water in that pond,” Muyunda said.
He detailed that the ministry had initially donated solar panels to the conservancy to enable them to pump water in the pool.
“We have also established that a new borehole was drilled by the conservancy recently which is currently pumping water, increasing the water level significantly,” he said.
Muyunda said the ministry will continue monitoring the situation until it gets back to normal.
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