Botswana and Namibia have embarked on a joint investigation into the increased incidents of elephant poaching in the northern part of Botswana. "The country (Botswana) experienced a surge in elephant poaching incidents during November and December 2023," Lesego Kgomanyane, the spokesperson for Botswana's Ministry of Environment and Tourism, told Xinhua over the telephone, noting that the development has shone the light on the apparent increase in poaching of elephants in northern Botswana. At least four separate incidents involving arrests of poaching groups smuggling elephant tusks were made in Namibia within ten days of mid-November this year, and at least 68 elephant tusks weighing almost a tonne were seized in Namibia's eastern area of the Zambezi region, which borders Botswana and Zambia, she said. According to Kgomanyane, preliminary investigations into the incidents have established that most of the tusks came from the elephants recently poached in Botswana.