Present and Potential Buffalo Distribution in Namibia
Besides the main population in the Caprivi disease-free buffalo
were introduced to Waterberg Plateau Park (1981 - 1991) and
in 1996 thirty buffalo were penned in a quarantine camp in
Bushmanland (within the Nyae Nyae conservancy) which is north
of the main veterinary
cordon fence.
The present available range for buffalo in the Caprivi is
determined by patterns of human settlement, the amount of
land cleared for agriculture and the grazing requirements
of cattle (Figure
14).
| BUFFALO RANGE |
Area km2 |
Cumulative |
| 1. Core area where buffalo should reach full carrying
capacity |
5,000 |
5,000 |
| 2. Additional range which buffalo might reasonably be
expected to colonise if water supplies are developed,
conservancies fulfil expectations and illegal hunting
is minimised |
4,000 |
9,000 |
| 3. Further range which buffalo might occupy under favourable
policies with active promotion and major incentives for
local communities |
8,000 |
17,000 |
|
Figure 14: Present and potential buffalo range in
the Caprivi
|
Occurrences of buffalo recorded in the various aerial surveys
since 1987 indicate a "core range" of about 5,000 km2.
This resembles the range given by Mendelsohn and Roberts (1997,
p31) but includes most of the Forest Reserve as potential
core area and excludes the southern part of Kabe and Katimo
Mulilo constituencies where dense agriculture is likely to
preclude the long term survival of buffalo.
Using the data from the Caprivi Atlas (Mendelsohn and Roberts
1997), a "maximum possible range" for buffalo
can be defined by excluding all consolidated areas of land
cleared for agriculture and areas where human populations
exceed 20 persons/km2. This removes about 2,500 km2 of land,
mainly in the far east and far west of the Strip, from the
total area of 20,000 km2 to give an area of about 17,500 km2.
In doing this, it is assumed that water supplies for buffalo
could be developed in the central part of the West Caprivi.
A more modest " medium range" would exclude
virtually all cleared areas no matter how small, all areas
where the human densities are greater than 10 km2 and areas
to which buffalo are unlikely to gain access because of the
bottlenecks created by surrounding agriculture. This area
amounts to slightly more than 9,000 km2.
|
