Namibia has recently been in the headlines, primarily driven by an uninformed sensationalist approach to reporting, which is not only damaging to Namibia’s tourism promotion efforts, but it totally disregards Namibia’s stellar conservation efforts. There have been similar responses to situations like this in the past, but it has been shown that Namibia’s approach to conservation delivers very favourable results in terms of real conservation outcomes. Here is our take….

Namibia has long been a country at the forefront of conservation. It was the first African country to incorporate conservation into its constitution and has had great success in its conservation efforts in protecting and managing its wildlife and natural habitat. Almost half of Namibia’s surface area is under conservation protection and Namibia now boasts the largest free-roaming population of black rhinos and cheetahs globally and is the only country with an expanding population of free-roaming lions. In addition, Namibia’s elephant population doubled between 1995 and 2008 from 7,500 to over 16,000 individuals. This remarkable turnaround has led some to call Namibia’s conservation efforts the most notable African wildlife recovery story over told. Conservation is, and remains, one of the country’s cornerstones.

Southern Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in decades and both people and wildlife are suffering. Half of Namibia’s human population is expected to experience food insecurity in the coming months as without the rains needed during the first quarter of the year, farmer’s crops have failed and food reserves are nearing exhaustion. This does not mean that there is any mass starvation, but the rural population needs help to cope with the situation they are facing. Added to that, human-wildlife conflict is expected to increase due to dwindling food resources, and a wildlife die-off due to lack of food and water is all but inevitable if nothing is done to prevent that. The next rain season, what is considered the big rains, will only begin in January 2025 and potential crop harvests as a result of those rains will only appear months later.

In response to these circumstances, the Government is meeting its commitment to manage the country’s wildlife in protected areas and has planned to cull 700+ wild animals, including 83 elephants and 30 hippos, to prevent a mass die-off. It needs to be noted, that this is a modest number when compared to the total wildlife populations Namibia boasts, including over 200,000 elephant that migrate between north-eastern Namibia and its surrounding countries. It should also be noted that many first world countries actively manage their own wildlife populations annually. In the United Kingdom, half a million deer are shot every year to keep numbers sustainable, and similar events happen around the world.

The Namibian Government intends to distribute the meat from this essential culling exercise to people facing hunger to prevent the possibility of starvation and famine. Efforts from the Government to ensure that those who require drought relief can get it have been stellar, and these have almost certainly prevented a catastrophe of epic proportions in terms of a humanitarian crisis that would need an international response. The added potential of providing massively important protein to those facing food insecurity is immense, especially to the diets of developing children. These efforts are in line with Namibia’s Constitution which states that the government must “[utilize] living natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of the Namibians, both present and future.” The cull is planned to take place in areas where risk of human-wildlife conflict is high, and authorities believe animal numbers exceed available grazing land and water supplies. From a tourism perspective, it is important to note that these areas are not core tourism areas and visitors would not be conscious of any of these efforts if it were not for what has been published in the media. The same applies to the human challenges being faced now, where government’s efforts are ensuring that large parts of the population do not end up facing potential starvation, and that visitors to the country will not be exposed to what could otherwise be distressing experiences.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has stated "This exercise is necessary and is in line with our constitutional mandate where our natural resources are used for the benefit of Namibian citizens." This action considers not only the welfare of the country’s people but also its wildlife, and it is in line with our Constitution and our core beliefs about conservation. Namibia has outperformed just about every first world country when it comes to conservation over the past three and half decades, and we believe continued trust in our conservation efforts is well placed during what is a time of crisis, where the impact of a prolonged drought on wildlife and people needs a measured approach to ensure sustainability into the future.  

This planned cull should not affect the tourism experience in any way. The number of animals selected is quite moderate and this planned cull will help to prevent famine and suffering in the wildlife population while also addressing problems in the human population. The very best thing you can do to help at the moment is to continue to encourage travel to Namibia, where income generated from non-rain dependent land use practices such as tourism, ensure continued income generation for communities and conservation, ultimately ensuring Namibia is able to navigate this challenge successfully. The challenge is caused by climate change for which Namibia is in no way responsible, but we are experiencing severe effects from this in the same way as our neighbouring countries who are equally blameless in terms of its cause. The good news is that recently published weather forecasts for southern Africa predict a more favorable rainy season next year, and this is giving hope to the region which we sincerely hope will be realized.

Thank you for your continued support, and the trust placed in us to give you, our valued partners, a balanced and measured account. Please reach out to us if you have any questions on this situation.