In Pictures

Heartbreak in Zimbabwe park: Elephants’ desperate hunt for water

Blackened corpses scar a landscape where the rains have been more than six weeks late.

A general view of a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December. — A general view of a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023 [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Storm clouds are finally gathering over Zimbabwe’s biggest animal reserve, but it has come too late for more than 110 elephants that have died in a searing, extended drought.

There is little that Simba Marozva and other rangers at the Hwange National Park can do except cut the tusks off the rotting corpses before poachers find them.

With the black clouds in recent days promising life-saving rains, the rangers may not find all of the victims of the drought on their daily hunts.

The 14,600-square-kilometre (5,600-square-mile) park – bigger than many countries – is home to more than 45,000 savanna elephants, so many that they are considered a threat to the environment.

The scene is still heartbreaking.

Blackened corpses scar a landscape where the rains have been more than six weeks late and scorching temperatures have regularly hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) said “the old, the young and the sick” have been worst hit.

Some have fallen in dried-up waterholes, some spent their final hours in the shade of a tree.

Many are infant elephants – but all that is left is the shrivelled skin over the rotting carcass.

The intact tusk is a sign that it was a natural death. But there is a heavy stench around the elephants, which has attracted growing attention in recent years.

This aerial view shows Game ranger Simba Marozva inspecting the carcass of an elephant which died due to drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — More than 200 elephants died in a 2019 drought but the rangers say it could be worse this time once the end of the summer arrives. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

A general view of a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023. — Hwange is part of the Kavango- Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area covering parks in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. All have borders on the Okavango and Zambezi river basins. An aerial survey started in 2022 estimated the region's elephant population at 227,900 animals. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Elephants feed as it starts to rain in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — While tens of thousands of elephants have been slaughtered across Africa by poachers and hunters since the 1970s, the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area is considered a success story with numbers mainly growing. That has increased pressure on Hwange's resources while climate change has emerged as a new risk. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Game ranger Simba Marozva examines the carcass of baby elephant which died due to drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023. — The estimated 100,000 elephants in Zimbabwe is twice the capacity of its parks, conservationists say. Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for Zimbabwe's national parks authority, Zimparks, said 112 elephant deaths had been confirmed since September. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Game ranger Simba Marozva removes a tusk from a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — He said the numbers were not surprising given the huge size of the elephant population in Hwange. 'We have high temperatures and we have no water. They are bound to be stressed and die.' [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Game ranger Simba Marozva cleans a tusk removed from a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — Climate change has increased the number of droughts, he added. 'It's not only elephants which are affected, there are also other animals. Elephants can be easily noticed because of their size.' [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

An elephant feeds as it starts to rain in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — Farawo said the parks authority was also concerned that the elephants had become 'overpopulated' and 'are destroying the habitat'. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Carcasses of elephants which died of drought are seen around a watering whole in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — Hwange, covered in dry grass, leafless trees and some desert-like open areas, has 104 solar-powered boreholes across the park to reach further into the water table that falls lower each year. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Game ranger Simba Marozva holds a tusk removed from a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe. — But it has not been enough, and the drought which has hit several southern African countries, has been worsened this year by the El Nino phenomenon. The hunt for water has taken elephants dangerously close to human habitations on the fringes of Hwange. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

An elephant drinks water from a swimming pool at tented camp on the boundaries of Hwange National Park in Hwange. — They have drunk in desperation from swimming pools in private homes and risked drinking at water holes contaminated by dead animals. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

Rain showers at a watering whole in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023. — Dried-up water holes are forcing elephants and other wildlife to walk long distances for food and water. Some have crossed into Botswana and other neighbouring countries where many deaths have also been reported. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]

A decomposed elephant which died of drought lays next to trees in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023. — On average, an elephant drinks more than 200 litres (50 gallons) of water and eats some 140 kilograms (300 pounds) of food a day. [Zinyange Auntony/AFP]