Water for Garub's horses
Thanks to a new borehole, the wild horses in the South and the large number of game, which includes gemsbok to ostriches, have water again.Currently, the future of these graceful horses is rosy and they have a better survival rate with ten foals that survived this year largely thanks to good grazing and better parenting.
About 70 horses are currently at Garub where the Garub 2 water supply project provides sufficient water for the large number of wildlife that has moved into the area. The good rains that fell in the area have provided excellent grazing and grass, which has meant that more than 500 gemsbok and flocks of ostriches have also now come here to drink water.
However, the Ministry of the Environment, Forestry and Tourism could not keep the waterhole full by transporting water there, meaning the horses and other wildlife sometimes went without water for days.
The old borehole could only pump about 3 500 litres of water per day, which was not enough for the large number of game and horses, and with the scorching heat, the need for water also increased significantly.
The Pupkewitz Foundation financed the inspection of the old borehole. However, it was found that the borehole was completely beyond repair.
New water source
A new water source was found and the foundation subsequently raised money to drill a new borehole at Garub 2 and also install infrastructure to supply water to the waterhole. Thanks to these donations and a quick response by Samill Drilling, a new water source could be created, which relieved the pressure on the waterhole at the lookout point due to the influx of a large number of game.
The new borehole now also has a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) casing that will help prevent it from collapsing again.
The Ministry of Environment’s management plan did not provide for the replacement of essential infrastructure in the park such as water supply and consequently requested the foundation to repair the broken historic trough at Garub 1. This project was completed in 2022 at a cost of N$148 000.
Threat
The biggest threat to the horses now is the heavy traffic and especially trucks on the busy Aus-Lüderitz highway.
Motorists are advised to drive carefully and slowly on the road, especially in the evening, and to be on the lookout for the horses that regularly graze along the road.
The public is also asked not to feed the horses, as this encourages the animals to stand along the road where trucks, in particular, can hit and kill them.
The Namibia Wild Horses Foundation is now known as The Namib’s and also has a new Facebook page www.facebook.com/thenamibs/ with loads of information and the most beautiful photos of these graceful animals or send an email to [email protected].
For any donations to guarantee the survival of this Namibian treasure, the bank details are:
Namibia Wild Horses Foundation
First National Bank
Branch code: 281479
Savings account no.: 622 466 59489
Swift: FIRNNANX.
– [email protected]