WARNING: 11 ELEPHANTS SPOTTED AT TIKHUBA

MBABANE – Big Game Parks authorities and Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) were on high alert when 11 elephants roamed into the country yesterday.

The elephants were first seen by soldiers stationed at Tikhuba in the Lubombo Region. They were spotted in the early hours of yesterday.  It is believed that they are from Mozambique.
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said the elephants, after being monitored, seemed to be making their way back to Mozambique. She further said police were closely monitoring the elephants with the assistance of rangers from Big Game Parks. “Yes, there were 11 elephants in the country that came through from Mozambique. We plead with the people where the elephants were spotted to be on high alert and keep away from the animals,” said Vilakati during an interview with this publication. According to some residents around Tikhuba, the elephants were seen fumbling through forests as they journeyed.

“We received information around the community that there are elephants that roamed into the country. We did not actually see the animals and we believe it is because it is highly possible they went back to Mozambique,” said one resident. Another resident said they only saw foot prints and managed to alert the soldiers who later called the police and a warning statement was issued.  When reached for comment, Big Game Parks Sales and Marketing Manager Xolani Gama said they could not confirm if the elephants were in the country but they heard the rumours to that effect and this was before the elephants supposedly returned to Mozambique.

Roamed

In November and December last year, the country ran a series of articles of two elephants ‘Gatuno’ and ‘Swazi’ who roamed into the country after travelling all the way from Mozambique. ‘Gatuno’, one of the elephants that had wandered into the country, officially left the kingdom months later. The elephants were first seen at Mambane on November 27, 2021, they later moved to Big Bend Gamula, along Lubhuku area where they were spotted roaming around; from there, they moved to Sikhuphe. From Sikhuphe they made their way to Lubhuku and made a small turn at Mpaka, which was when they moved to Hlane and roamed around Hlane until they wandered themselves into a secure area.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: