Relief for Beitbridge community as marauding lioness returns to SA

A collared lioness that had caused sleepless nights for communities in Beitbridge east and the border town has reportedly crossed back to South Africa via the Limpopo River.

The lioness is one of the two that strayed into Zimbabwe through the Gonarezhou area which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation (GLTFCA) area made of national parks and communal lands from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In the last two weeks the villagers lived in fear of being attacked by the lioness which roamed mostly the eastern part of the district.
The other lion is still being tracked within the Chiredzi area.

In a public notice on Tuesday, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management (Zimparks) Beitbridge office confirmed the latest development.

“The Lioness which has been moving around and causing a lot of fear to Beitbridge communities has crossed back to RSA and now moving towards Musina. It moved 24kms towards the East and safely crossed Limpopo River back to South Africa around 1900hrs on Monday,” said Zimparks in the notice.

“This is very good news to both the Beitbridge District community, Zimparks and all Stakeholders. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the

Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (drones crew), Beitbridge Rural District Council (BBRDC) through its CAMPFIRE team and all the stakeholders who were directly or indirectly involved on the hunt and monitoring of this lioness”.