Staff Reporter 

A farmer near Khorixas in the Kunene regions in the Torra conservancy suffered huge losses after a pride of lions broke through his kraal and killed 43 goats on Friday night.

“I am devastated! I have lost 43 goats in one night. Just like that. This is bad, very bad. I think it is N$60 000 in losses,” 69-year-old Henry Mapanga, who farms near Palmwag, told New Era yesterday.

Palmwag is a tourism concession on communal land in northern Namibia. It is located in the Kunene region, in northwestern Damaraland, halfway between Swakopmund and Etosha National Park.  It covers an area of 400 000 hectares.

Palmwag comprises the Torra, Sesfontein and Ananbeb conservancies, which have had their fair share of livestock losses to marauding lions in 2017 and 2018. 

Since then, though, ‘lion-proof’ kraals have resulted in a major decrease in these attacks. He said he received a call from his farm workers on Friday, informing him that three lions had stormed his farm and killed his goats. 

Namibia Chamber of Environment (NCE) in its Facebook post yesterday said the predator-proof kraal failed in this instance, as the lions broke the
 top wires when jumping over the fence. 

“In instances like this, big cats will kill all or nearly all of the livestock in the kraal by instinct. This is a huge loss for the farmer, who is a pensioner”.