Copyright 2001 Reuters
October 04, 2001
By Ed Stoddard, Reuters

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South Africa will launch the biggest elephant relocation ever Thursday when it begins a planned transfer of 1,000 of the animals from Kruger National Park to neighboring Mozambique.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela will open the gate on the border between the countries at the ceremony, which will see the first batch of 40 elephants moved to Mozambique.

The operation will relocate them to an area in Mozambique known as Coutada 16, slated to be part of a 13,510-square-mile transborder park opening over the next year or so. The Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou park will also include Kruger and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou Park, making it the first contiguous park to straddle three countries.

"It's probably the single most important event in conservation in this century for South Africa and the region," said Crispian Olver, director-general of South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. "But it has global significance. We are setting a precedent for trans-frontier cooperation," he said.

The relocation will ease pressures on Kruger's 9,000-plus elephant population, which many scientists say has reached its capacity, given the available habitat in the Israel-sized park. Before the relocation plan, conservation authorities had considered culling to reduce the park's elephant herd — a decision that would have been greeted with howls of protest from animal welfare organizations.

Moving the 1,000 elephants is expected to take about three years, officials said.

COLONIAL BOUNDARIES FALL AWAY

"This will truly be the world's greatest animal kingdom," South African Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said in an article in the local Sunday Times newspaper. "It will open natural migratory routes which were artificially blocked by political boundaries constructed by the colonial masters of Southern Africa," he wrote.

Kruger Park is home to a huge variety of wildlife, including elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions, and leopards, once coveted prey for hunters and now sought after by camera-toting tourists. South African officials say the park will bring huge economic benefits to Mozambique by boosting the job-generating ecotourism sector.

Mozambique had one of the world's fastest-growing economies before it was hit last year by devastating floods, and it remains one of the world's poorest countries.

Poverty often drives Mozambicans to desperate measures. Many attempt to sneak into South Africa in search of work using the hazardous route through Kruger Park. Park officials say an unknown number have been killed and eaten by lions.

The creation of the transborder park means the entire fence along the Kruger-Mozambican border will eventually be taken down, but security will be beefed up in areas that were previously unpatrolled, Olver said.

Most of Mozambique's elephant population was decimated during a brutal civil war that ended in 1992, and Mozambique has the dubious distinction of being the only African country where the white rhinoceros was hunted to extinction twice. Error: Unable to read footer file.