The majority of Namibia is unsuitable for hippo. Only the Caprivi has a high enough rainfall and suitable floodplain habitats to carry a significant hippo population. The proximate factors limiting hippo in the Caprivi are human settlement, competition with cattle and some illegal hunting. Conservancy development in the Caprivi has reduced illegal hunting by Namibians but, with the major rivers being shared international boundaries, Zambians and Angolans have the capability of reducing the Namibian 'share' of hippo in the Zambezi and the Okavango river.

The ultimate factor limiting hippo may be a lack of understanding of the potential value of wildlife management as the primary form of land use in Caprivi. There is still a deep cultural attachment to cattle raising and crop growing. Conservancies cover a relatively small part of the Caprivi and much of the potential range for hippo, particularly in the eastern Caprivi, lies outside state protected areas and conservancies.

The species is not tolerated in many parts of the Caprivi because of damage to crops and the fact that hippo are a physical threat to humans. The greatest recorded conflict between humans and hippos occurs on the Kwando River frontage and incidents reach a peak in the crop growing season. In 2003 the number of incidents involving hippo in the eastern Caprivi conservancies was 263 - which exceeds the number of incidents involving elephant (253). Incidents of crop damage in conservancies are recorded in the Conservancy Event Book (NNF 2004). Unlike elephant incidents hippo incidents do not appear to be increasing in number. The estimated value of damage to crops by elephants from 1995-2000 for the whole Kwando River region was about N$20,000 per year (O'Connell-Rodwell et al 2000): it might be expected that the value of hippo damage is similar. This has significant effects on household livelihoods.

The present hippo quota allocations to conservancies in the Caprivi are substantially higher than those for elephants and the benefits may be sufficient to provide tolerance for hippo in some areas. However, those people who are not in established conservancies in the Caprivi receive little in the way of benefits and they suffer substantial losses. Farmers are not free to defend their livelihoods from hippo depredations and the current arrangements for control of problem hippo are cumbersome. O'Connell (1995) found a hostile attitude towards wildlife amongst the Caprivi peoples and the inception of conservancy projects did little to ameliorate this attitude.

Full devolution of rights over hippo to communal landholders is a prerequisite for creating the correct suite of incentives for hippo populations to expand and this authority would have to extend to stakeholders who are not formed into conservancies.