Six live elephant exported through port of Walvis Bay to a DR-Congo game lodge

A family of six elephants were loaded aboard the freighter El Nino in the port of Walvis Bay on Thursday night and is destined for an upmarket game park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Another export shipment of live elephant are scheduled for June, Namport said in a statement on Friday.

In the same statement Namport says this was the first of its kind export of live elephant and certainly not the last. A total of 205 heads of game were exported to the same game park in 2018, but sadly some of the animals died in the process of the transport to the DRC. See Namport press statement and more pictures on page two of today’s edition.

“Last night a family of six elephants comprising of two adults (bull and cow) and 4 calves were loaded at the Port of Walvis Bay on the El Nino vessel destined for a tourism Game Park in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This is the first time a consignment of such magnitude involving adult elephants is leaving the country and will not be the last as this was a trial run to guarantee that future exportations are conducted smoothly.
Talking to Dr Ulf Tubbesing from Wildlife Vets Namibia, on the safety of the animals during the transhipment, he said that, “a team of experts is involved during the entire process of the transportation of animals and also accompanies the consignment up to time of discharge to ensure that the elephants are well looked after”.
The entire operation, which lasted over 20 hours, required approximately 50 personnel members from various stakeholders being Namport, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Honesta Investment 32 cc, Blue Bush Investment trading as Wildlife Vets Namibia, KLD Ship Agency, Walvis Bay Stevedoring, Erindi Game Lodge, Mount Etjo Lodge, El Nino Crew members, Pronto Global Air and Ocean Freight and Camel Transport to ensure that the animals were safely loaded and transported to their destination.” Pictured below: leaving Namibian soil in special shipping containers. The elephant loaded onto the cargo vessel El Nino.