The country is undergoing major rainfall deficits of an unprecedented intensity for forty years which affect 23 of the 47 told.
Le Monde with AFP
More than 200 elephants died because of drought between February and October in Kenya, Eastern African Country which faces major rainfall deficits, the Minister of Tourism said on Friday, November 4.
Kenya, economic engine of East Africa and a major tourist destination on the continent, in particular thanks to its fauna, undergoes a drought of unprecedented intensity for forty years and hunger touches it at least 4 million people over a population of more than 50 million inhabitants. According to the authorities, the drought affects 23 of the 47 parts of the country.
Four seasons of insufficient rains immediately created the driest conditions observed since the early 1980s. “Drought has caused significant fauna mortality, mainly in herbivorous species (…) due to the ‘Exhausting food resources as well as water shortages, “announced at a press conference in Nairobi Peninah Malonza, Minister of Tourism.
According to Mr. Malonza, fourteen species are particularly affected by drought. Between February and October 2022, 205 elephants died because of the lack of water across the country, 512 wildebeest, 381 zebras, 12 giraffes and 51 buffalo.
died more than a million and a half of cattle heads
According to the Minister of Tourism, “more than 70 elephants died” over the period in the Amboseli regions, some 160 kilometers south of the capital Nairobi, and Laikipia-Samburu, in the north of the country. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism published in 2021, Kenya has more than 36,000 elephants.
To cope with drought, the minister announced that the authorities had notably implemented “hay provisions for affected species”. At the end of September, the NGO Save The Elephant had announced the death of a famous elephant in the Samburu reserve, arid in northern Kenya.
Monsoon (“monsoon” in English), a female aged sixties and mother of seven elephants, had survived poachers five times. The elephant was euthanized at the end of September, the NGO Save The Elephant having then declared that the poor health of the elephant was due to its age, but that it had “been aggravated by the drought”.
rivers and wells have dried up, the pastures have turned into dust, causing the death of more than a million and a half of cattle heads, just in Kenya.