Figure 8: Historic Distribution in Namibia based on
rainfall
Figure 9: Reported buffalo occurences 1900-63
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Historic Distribution in the
Region
The Historic Distribution of Buffalo in Namibia
The Pre-Rinderpest Period: In Namibia, the range for
buffalo may once have been larger (Figure
8) Buffalo may have frequented the full length of the
Orange River and have been recorded on the Löwen River near
Keetmanshoop in 1761; on the Lewer River near Gibeon in 1791;
again on the Löwen River in 1835; and at Bullspoort near the
Naukluft Park in 1837 (Skead 1982). Buffalo were recorded
possibly as seasonal visitors to the Gondwana Canyon Park
east of the Fish River Canyon (Brown 2000).
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The Twentieth Century: The great rinderpest epidemic
reduced buffalo to very low numbers throughout southern Africa.
The Namibian population, which lived over most of its range
in marginal conditions anyway, was brought to extinction except
in the Caprivi. In the early 1900s buffalo were sighted frequently
in the Caprivi, where, because of its more favourable rainfall
and its location, populations were able to recover quickly.
In the main body of Namibia populations recovered more slowly,
with the recolonisation coming from Botswana and Angola (Figure
9).
There are early sightings in
the Khaudom area (Mattenklodt 1916, [in Gaertes 1967]) and
in Ovamboland (Hahn 1925). Buffalo increased their range southwards
and westwards and, by the 1950s, records were common in the
Grootfontein, Otjiwarongo and Gobabis farming areas (Gaerdes
1967). A sighting is reported in the Windhoek farming area
in 1957 and a small group of buffalo had established themselves
in Etosha by 1963. However, the expansion of buffalo was to
proceed no further: from the 1960s onwards, the epoch of veterinary
control fencing was to determine the future distribution
of buffalo in southern Africa.
Buffalo were eradicated from large areas as part of the veterinary
campaign but, in any case, the construction of the fences
alone would have been responsible for many deaths. A group
of buffalo which were isolated from Botswana by the international
boundary veterinary fence later formed the nucleus for the
present foot and mouth
disease-free herd in Tsumkwe.
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