botswana

Namibia To Share Meat Of 90 Drowned Buffaloes With Locals

September 29, 2025 1:07 am

Namibia authorities promise safety checks after buffalo herd drowns fleeing lions near Botswana border, sparking community concern, as they ask citizen to consume the meat.

Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has ordered the distribution of meat from 90 buffaloes that drowned in the Zambezi region, assuring residents that the process will be safe and supervised.

The buffaloes reportedly plunged into a river while fleeing lions from Botswana’s Chobe National Park, according to officials. A local farmer discovered the carcasses, prompting the ministry to intervene.

Environment and Tourism Minister Indileni Daniel told parliament that the meat would be distributed …

Botswana Smashes ‘Historic’ UN Goal Against HIV

July 28, 2022 3:46 am

Botswana has officially become the second nation in the world, after Eswatini, to reach a landmark UN goal towards eradicating AIDS, researchers revealed Wednesday, in what health experts have described as ‘stellar results’.

Africa Today News, New York reports that the country has now met the so-called ’95-95-95′ target on HIV diagnosis, treatment and viral suppression several years early, according to a study published ahead of a global conference on the disease.

Currently about one in five people in Botswana live with the virus — one of the highest rates in the world — according to the UN AIDS agency …

350 Elephants Die Mysteriously In Botswana

July 2, 2020 5:56 pm

Hundreds of elephants have mysteriously dropped dead in Botswana in what is being described as a ‘conservation disaster’.

More than 350 elephants have died from unknown causes, with aerial photos showing their carcasses scattered across the Okavango Delta and other northern parts of the country.

The first unusual deaths were reported in May when 169 elephants died in a short period at the Okavango Delta, a marshy and lush wildlife habitat.

That number had almost doubled by mid June, with 70 per cent of the deaths occurring around waterholes, according to local sources.

Botswana’s government has not yet tested the …

Over 100 Elephants Die In Botswana In Suspected Anthrax

October 23, 2019 11:57 am

More than 100 elephants have died in Botswana in the past two months partly because of a suspected anthrax outbreak, the government has said.“Preliminary investigations suggest the elephants are dying from anthrax, whilst some died from drought effects,” a Department of Wildlife and National Parks statement said.

“Due to the severe drought, elephants end up ingesting soil while grazing and get exposed to the anthrax bacteria spore,” it said.

Elephants Without Borders said an aerial survey showed fresh elephant carcasses increased by 59 percent between 2014 and 2018, mostly from poaching and illegal hunting with drought also a contributing

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Botswana Begins Voting In Test Of A Stable Democracy

October 23, 2019 5:43 am

Voting opened on Wednesday in Botswana for a hotly contested general election that could test the country’s traditionally stable politics, as the ruling party faces its toughest challenge yet.

The historic Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) — whose rule has been unfettered since independence from Britain in 1966 — was shaken up earlier this year after former president Ian Khama dramatically renounced his hand-picked successor Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Voters started gathering late on Tuesday at Tlogatloga secondary school in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, waiting all night to cast their ballot.

“I have spotted a candidate I think is the right person and I …

Botswana President Masisi Says Former Leader Left For Good

October 22, 2019 11:11 am

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said Sunday that the defection of his predecessor and former mentor Ian Khama would boost the ruling party’s performance in the upcoming general election.

The dramatic falling out between the former president Khama and his former deputy and hand-picked successor Masisi has shaken the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

The BDP, which has ruled the diamond-rich southern African country since independence in 1966, may face its toughest election yet due to dwindling support and political fragmentation.

Last year, Khama reached the end of his two five-year terms — the constitutional limit — and …

Prince Harry kicks off Botswana visit with tree planting

September 26, 2019 6:17 am

Britain’s Prince Harry on Thursday kicked off a visit to Botswana, travelling solo while his wife Meghan Markle and their four-month-old son Archie remained behind in South Africa.

The royals are on a 10-day visit to southern Africa, their first official tour as a family.

In Botswana, Harry joined 200 schoolchildren on Thursday morning as they planted trees in the Chobe Forest Reserve. The Duke of Sussex planted a baobab, a tree that is “severely under threat across Africa,” according to an Instagram post that was accompanied by a photo of Harry kneeling next to a seedling and high-fiving one …

Botswana High Court decriminalises homosexuality

June 11, 2019 8:10 am

Botswana’s High Court, in a highly-anticipated verdict, on Tuesday ruled in favour of decriminalising homosexuality, which is outlawed under the country’s 1965 penal code.

Judge Michael Elburu “set aside” the “provisions of a Victorian-era” and ordered the laws be amended.

In a courtroom packed with activists, the judge emphasised that the current laws oppressed a minority of the population.

“There’s nothing reasonable in discriminating,” he said.

“We say the time has come that private, same sexuality must be decriminalized.”

“It is a variety of human sexuality,” he said.

The …

Gay Rights: Botswana to rule on scrapping anti-gay laws

June 10, 2019 7:13 am

Botswana could decriminalise gay sex on Tuesday when its high court is due to rule in a landmark case being watched across Africa after Kenya recently upheld its own anti-homosexuality laws.

Homosexual acts are outlawed in Botswana — one of Africa’s most stable, democratic nations — under the country’s penal code of 1965.

An unnamed applicant is challenging two sections of the code that threaten offenders with a jail sentence of up to seven years.

Last month, Kenya’s high court refused to scrap laws criminalising homosexuality, dealing a blow to the country’s gay community that rippled across a continent where …