Water for Elephants Trust (WET) has reopened boreholes for elephants and other wildlife in north-east of Botswana.

Alexa Tross, Co-ordinator, told Tourism Update in an interview that a serious water crisis affected the animals in the region in the lengthy dry season.

“We have built and operate three boreholes in the region, which provide for the wildlife, however we are far from meeting the needs. We conducted an elephant count at one of our boreholes last November and recorded over 500 unique visits in a single day,” Tross said.

WET has a tanker truck and trailer to bring more water to available water resources. This is in addition to that provided by the pump operations but it is still insufficient.

In May, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks granted WET permission to reopen 11 boreholes in a large area that has Chobe to the north, Moremi to the west and Hwange to the east. They were established and operated by former commercial hunting operations and were closed when Botswana implemented a hunting ban in 2014.

“We will reopen these boreholes to provide much-needed water for elephants and other wildlife, which will also help to bring plains game back to these areas which they used to inhabit, and allow the ecosystem where the elephants currently are to recover,” said Tross.

The reopened boreholes will also reduce human/elephant interaction as the desperate elephants won't have to seek water in communities or villages during the hot months of the dry season.

WET is anxious to continue its work and is seeking funding through private donors and organisations to be able to accomplish their mission.

The Water for Elephants Trust was founded by conservationist Ben Moller near Nata, in the wild northeast of Botswana. It was created to help raise the necessary support to maintain and expand the vital water infrastructure on which the largest population of elephants in Africa depends entirely.