Protecting elephants in Tanzania
We’re working in Tanzania to help farmers safeguard produce without harming elephants
Farming in elephant habitats
We’ve been working in Mikumi National Park in Tanzania for five years. It’s a natural elephant habitat, which is close to local farmland. This can cause problems for farmers in the area as the elephants often eat or crush maize crops, sometimes destroying a whole year’s income. To protect their livelihoods, farmers respond with extreme measures that can kill elephants–like poisoning crops they know elephants will eat. So we’re working to provide practical solutions that keep elephants safe and protect crops.
We’re helping to reduce conflicts between elephants and farmers, using simple ideas involving bees and chili
Our solution
Elephants avoid bees and chili. So we help farmers to build deterrents that won’t harm elephants, using beehives and chili powder. Beehives are suspended from posts outside farms. And sisal–a local crop–is dipped in a mixture of engine oil and chili powder and then hung from fences.
Our humane solutions are only possible thanks to your generous support.
Farmers from Mikumi village harvest chillies in Tanzania
Our future work
Farmers in Mikumi are still building new fences and hanging new hives–and farmers in neighboring communities have started doing the same. We’re also working with farmers on ways to reduce conflicts with local lions, leopards, hyenas, and livestock. We’re encouraging local governments and authorities to introduce similar solutions elsewhere. And we recently helped the Tanzanian government write new legislation on reducing conflict between wild animals and communities.
