South Africa’s Minister of Defence has offered the Kissama Foundation of Angola the services of the South African Navy to transport about 200 elephants to Angola’s national parks to replace those killed by poachers during the civil war.
Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has given permission for the SAS Outeniqua to be used to transport elephants and other wild animals from Namibia to Angola in a relocation to be called ”Operation Noah’s Ark” next June, a joint statement on behalf of all three parties confirmed on Monday.
The elephants, gifts to Angola from the government of Botswana and the North West province parks board, will go by road from the Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa to Walvis Bay in Namibia. This part of the journey is expected to take two days.
They will then travel by sea to Luanda, Angola. The journey from Luanda to the Quiçama National Park 70kms away will also be by road.
Veterinarians will accompany the animals on their journey.
”This will help Angola to fast-track the restoration of our national parks and to create new job opportunities in the tourism and conservation sectors,” Angolan Ambassador Izak dos Anjos said in the statement.
The animals are to be transported in specially adapted steel
shipping containers.
The trucks will also be loaded onto the Outeniqua for use on the last part of the trek. The relocation will be undertaken in two stages over about twenty days in June next year.
The foundation’s capture teams are lead by experienced South African specialists. Elephants are relocated in family groups.
Kissama plans to transport other wildlife such as roan antelope, eland, reedbuck, waterbuck and possibly cheetah at the same time.
The foundation is also planning to move forest buffalo from other parts of Angola to Quiçama. The park covers an area of 1,2-million hectares and is situated on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Kissama Foundation was founded in 1996 by a group of Angolans and South Africans concerned about the state of Angola’s national parks and the conservation of the country’s natural resources.
Angolan President Jos̩ Eduardo dos Santos, is patron of the Foundation. РSapa