Officials from the ministry of environment and tourism arrived in the area Thursday near Kapani, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of the Caprivi regional capital of Katima Mulilo. An airplane was also sent up to assess the situation.

"The team will try and fence-off a corridor as the dried up water channel is only about five kilometres (three miles) away from the Chobe River", the minister of environment and tourism, Phillemon Malima, told AFP.

"The team is still deciding if they hippos must be sedated and air-lifted one by one by helicopter to the nearby river or if they can be made to walk there themselves within the... corridor, which our game catching teams usually erect very quickly when relocating live game", Malima said.

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