Jakarta –
About 90 wild buffalo in Namibia National Park drowned at the border. The cause was investigated, revealed because of being pursued by a lion and stepped on each other.
Reported from BBCWednesday (9/24/2025) Namibian Environment and Tourism Office said, these buffalo were chased by lions in their neighboring countries, Bostwana before they fell into a steep cliff on the Chobe River, which was on the Namibian border. This accident occurred around 05.00 local time (9/23).
“The lions pursue the buffalo from the neighboring Botswana countries. This is a very unfortunate incident. The animals fell from the cliffs that were in the river and some of them fell each other,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism, Ndeshipanda Hamunyela to AFP.
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It turned out that this was not the first time, in 2018 there was a more severe event. As many as 400 buffalo died after running into the river that flowed through the Chobe National Park in Botswana which is famous for the number of elephants, buffaloes, and giraffes.
In October 2023, more than 100 buffaloes were pursued by a herd of 12 lions in a mass sinking in the Chobe River. An official at the conservation of Kabulabula Namibia said that the buffalo herd fled from a lion in the Chobe National Park.
“Every time he was chased by a lion, they tried to cross to Namibia and began to step on each other,” said Mbeha Tadeus of the conservation.
The carcasses of dozens of buffaloes were finally distributed to the surrounding residents. The recording uploaded on social media by the Broadcasting Corporation Namibian government broadcasting institution shows around a dozen men to cut buffalo carcasses with ax and load their meat into pickup trucks.
“The ministries and other law enforcement officers are at the location to maintain security and order. The meat will be distributed to the community in the region by the ministry by involving other relevant stakeholders in the region,” Hamunyela said.
Death of buffalo sinking in the river is not a rare thing in this region, but the amount is usually small. Although the previous incidents have made local residents flocked to the scene to get free meat, conservationists warn that mass deaths at risk of polluting rivers and attract predators closer to human settlements.
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