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The
Wild Horses of the Namib Desert - Life at Subsistence
Level
Every couple of years, when the area on the fringe of
the Namib Desert in southern Namibia is hit by a drought,
they cause headlines far beyond the country’s
borders: the Wild Horses of the Namib. The horses and
possible measures for their care were discussed at an
expert meeting in November 2005. And on the side the
secret of their origin was revealed...
by
Mannfred Goldbeck |
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Relentlessly
the sun is beating down on the desolate land. Rocks,
rubble, sand. Here and there a shrivelled shrub or a
tuft of yellow grass. The heat fills the sweeping valleys
with liquid air. Shadows are swimming on the shimmering
plain and slowly start to take shape: a stallion and
two mares. Step by step they struggle along. It is a
long way from their grazing area to the horse-trough.
As grass becomes sparser, the distance increases with
each day that passes without rain. The last rains must
have occurred long ago: the horses’ ribs are sticking
out sharply. |
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Wild Horses at Garub. In the
background the mountains of the Great Escarpment. Photo:
Telané Greyling
 Image
Download (789 KB) |
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The Wild Horses
in the area around Garub, 20 km west of Aus, have a
tough life. Rainfalls are rare and unreliable - often
just enough for succulents, prickly shrubs and grasses.
Still, the horses usually find sufficient grazing. But
years of drought occur regularly in the fringe area
of the Namib Desert. Like in 1991/92, or in 1998/99,
when the horses were starving and weaker animals perished.
The public outcry in Namibia and far beyond the borders
resulted in costly efforts to catch or feed the horses.
In both cases success was only moderate. |
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| At the
same time an old debate was rekindled: should
the horses be tolerated there? After all, a large
part of their habitat is situated in the state-owned
Namib Naukluft Park, which is supposed to protect
the indigenous flora and fauna - and not these
'aliens' which are descended from domesticated
horses, have only been in the area for 90 years
and would not be able to survive without the watering
trough set up at Garub by man (see box 'origin').
Besides, some conservationists feared that the
Wild Horses would drive out indigenous plants
and animals and therefore wanted to remove them
from the park. Due to massive pressure from the
public, the media and horse-lovers in the Ministry
such plans were dropped, however. Since then the
horses have become a tourist attraction and as
such generate earnings and jobs for local people. |
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Wild Horse at the watering
trough at Garub.
Photo: Telané Greyling |
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Disruptive
element in a fragile environment?
The justified concerns, however, were still not eliminated,
the problems were far from being solved. The surroundings
of Aus are regarded as a 'biological hotspot' –
with more than 500 plant species, some of them endemic
(which means that they do not occur anywhere else).
What if the horses were a disruptive element in their
environment and contributed to unique plants becoming
extinct? What does the presence of the Wild Horses mean
for the management plan of the nature reserve? Can the
horses be treated like game and can they simply be abandoned
in years of drought? Or should there be any intervention?
If so, what form should it take?
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| Supported
by the Ministry for the Environment and Tourism,
as well as lodge and tour business Klein-Aus Vista
and the Nature Investments company (t/a Gondwana
Desert Collection), biologist Telané Greyling
has dealt with these and other questions in her
thesis. She presented the results of her research
to a work meeting which was held at Cañon
Village in November 2005 to discuss future steps
concerning the Wild Horses. Among the participants
were representatives of the Ministry, nature conservation,
the veterinary services, tourism and scientists
from Namibia, South Africa and Britain. |
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The watering trough
at Garub with the shelter for visitors.
Photo: Telané Greyling
Image
Download (1,06 MB) |
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On the basis
of her extensive research the experts first debated
the key issue of whether the horses should be seen as
aliens in the Namib Desert’s fragile ecosystem.
Greyling, however, has not been able to substantiate
the claim that the horses displace the indigenous flora
or fauna. She stated that by and large the same species
and same numbers of individuals which are found in nearby
areas of comparison occur also in the area where the
horses live. |
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Sound
Management instead of Contingency Aid
In a second step the meeting looked at recommendations,
especially tailored to the horses, for a possible management
plan to be drawn up by the Ministry. Of course the horses
can not be regarded as ordinary game like Gemsbok or
Springbok. On the one hand they are no longer domesticated
animals but part of the ‘wide’ open and
as such subject to nature’s rules. Therefore the
death of weak animals in times of drought is the natural
cycle taking its course. On the other hand, man can
not simply deny all responsibility. Fences block access
to natural watering places and better grazing on farms
bordering the area to the east (a death-trap for Gemsbok
as well, by the way). And in times of drought the number
of animals might drop so severely that the gene pool
is affected negatively and their survival endangered
by inbreeding. Saying yes to the horses also means yes
to preservation. |
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Before considering
possible steps, the desired goals have to be clear.
The meeting agreed on the following: to ensure a stable
population of Wild Horses, to keep the costs for their
care as low as possible, to utilise the attraction more
efficiently for tourism, to gather more information
on the animals and to improve the knowledge of the public. |
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Map of the area of the Wild
Horses in the southern Namib.
Source: Telané Greyling |
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A prerequisite
for controlling the horse population is to monitor rainfall,
grazing, the numbers and the condition of the animals
on a regular basis. It was agreed that the reference
value for a stable population is 130, with short-term
fluctuations between 80 and 180. Such fluctuations occurred
in the past as well. During the seventies and eighties
the number of horses was estimated at 250, but when
fences were put up in the late eighties the number dropped
considerably. 104 horses were caught in June 1992. There
were 110 horses in 1993, in 1997 the number had risen
to 149, in 1999 it dropped to just 89, and at present
it is back to about 150 animals. |
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The
expert team also recommends to set up a watering place
in a neighbouring grazing area in times of drought to
shorten the horses’ trip to the water, even though
they have adapted to the arid conditions and can go
without water longer than domestic horses and without
stress. During summer (November to March) they come
to the drinking trough in 30-hour intervals, in winter
(May to September) in 72-hour intervals. But the longer
the way from grazing to water the more energy they spend.
In cases where the condition of the horses deteriorates
it is envisaged to make lucerne available as additional
fodder. It was emphasised that it is important to spread
fodder over a wide area in order to prevent stressful
competition and fighting. |
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Proposals were
also put forward with regard to catching horses as a
way of keeping the population stable. Young animals
(2 to 4 years) and equal numbers of mares and stallions
should be chosen from the herd to avoid long-term disruptions
in their social structure. Such disruptions were caused
when more than 100 horses, regardless of age or gender,
were caught in 1992. |
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The people who live in the area and indirectly
benefit from the horses as a tourist attraction
also rated highly in the expert discussions.
Visitors can watch the horses from the shelter
at the drinking trough near Garub, and from
the middle of 2006 lots of background information
will be available at Aus Information Centre,
just 20 km away. A booklet about the horses
is in the pipeline and will also be sold there.
The Information Centre serves as a source of
income for the community of Aus and could at
some stage in the more distant future be combined
with a horse research centre. With
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This display on the
Wild Horses can be seen at the Aus Tourist Information
Centre.
Source: Gondwana Desert Collection |
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both centres
the envisaged fourth goal of improving public information
about the Wild Horses of the Namib could be realised. |
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