Zimbabwe is in the middle of another devastating dry season, bringing seemingly endless drought to this parched nation.
Countless elephants and other wild animals face relentless heat and long periods without rain. This is the worst drought in 40 years – last year, the country declared a state of disaster as crops failed and wildlife and people alike struggled to survive.
Desperate animals cluster under skeletal trees in their fruitless search for relief from the baking sun. Credit: ASI/Taryn Slabbert
Another year without water: Zimbabwe’s deadly drought means thousands of thirsty wild animals need help.
Last year, Zimbabwe’s dry season – made significantly worse by changing weather patterns – killed thousands of wild animals and left countless infants orphaned.
When my team and I visited badly-hit Hwange towards the end of 2024, we found a frightening situation. As temperatures soared up to 104°F (40°C), we saw elephants clustered beneath skeletal trees, desperate to escape the intense heat. In dried-up waterholes, we found the remains of animals who died waiting for relief that never came. Elephant mothers’ milk had dried up as they died, leaving their calves to starve.
Mother elephants die of exhaustion and thirst, leaving their calves to die of starvation. Credit: ASI/Taryn Slabbert
Some rain fell in late December, but because of climate change, the rainy season is almost two months shorter than it used to be, and the region is being plunged back into devastating drought.
With your help, we can install critical water pumps to help save lives – and prevent countless young animals from being orphaned.
We are working with the Presidential Elephants Research Trust (PERT), which operates in a 7,413-acre (3,000-hectare) area bordering Hwange National Park – an area which has no means of providing water during the dry season.
Debby Querido – “I was shocked when I realized how catastrophic the situation could become without our help to provide water for wild animals.” Credit: ASI/Taryn Slabbert
With your support, we will help the animals by equipping existing boreholes with solar-powered to create oases.
Elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, lions, leopards and countless others will benefit from the oases you can help create.
Environmentally conscious people like you helped us quadruple the water available in parts of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in Botswana, helping to save thousands of lives. Now, wild animals in Zimbabwe need us too.
Please, give as generously as you can today – your support will help make the difference between life and death for Zimbabwe’s parched and desperate animals.
