Over the christmas period 2019 an elephant bull made various visists to the vicinity of Swakopmund and eventually decided to stay along the Swakop River near the Rossmund Golf Club Estate over the past few months. Officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MET) and the Namibian police along with other emergency services immediately redirected the elephant with the distinctive torn left ear inland towards the Omaruru district. While there, the 25 year old elephant was successfully collared by the MET in January 2020, so that wardens are able monitor its movements. The MET expected the elephant to stay somewhere between Uis and Spitzkoppe along the Omaruru River and not come back to the coastal town of Swakopmund, but for some reasons the elephant seemed to have loved the area along the Swakop River better and returned in February 2020. The MET than decided to let the elephant stay there for the time beeing, monitor him and to assist the elephant to find a home.
Since February 2020, the bull roamed the area around the Rossmund Golf Club Estate and was closely monitored by the MET. During this time, the elephant became too comfortable around the Golf Estate, where it was seen moving between houses and breaking trees. To avoid conflict with the public, the elephant was darted and tranquilised on 18 April 2020 and successfully relocated to to the N/a'an ku sê Wildlife Sanctuary near Windhoek on 18 April 2020, where he has joined two younger bulls.
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