Over 80 buffaloes drown after falling from the cliff

More than 80 buffaloes were killed after trampling on each other and drowned in a river, said the Namibia environment and tourism department.

The buffaloes were chased by lions in neighboring Botswana when they “fell from a deep cliff” in the Chobe river on the Namibian side of the border, he added in a statement.

Hundreds of buffaloes have been killed in similar circumstances in the past.

In one of the worst cases, around 400 died in 2018 after having run in the river, which crosses the Chobe National Park of Botswana, a major tourist attraction known for its large number of elephants, buffaloes and giraffes.

An official of Namibia Kabulabula Conservancy told the BBC that the herd of Buffaloes was fleeing the lions in Chobe National Park.

“Whenever they are prosecuted by lions, they try to cross Namibia and start (tramples),” said the Mbeha Tadeus of the Conservation.

A spokesperson for the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Tourism, Ndeshipanda Hamunyela, confirmed that animals came from Botswana, but could not say if they came from Chobe National Park.

Hamunity told BBC that carcasses meat would be “distributed to immediate zone communities”.

In a video shared by the Namibian public broadcaster, NBC, on its page X, residents can be seen divide the meat between them near the banks of the river.

The NBC has put the number of buffaloes killed at 90, indicating that the incident occurred around 05:00, local time (07:00 GMT).