Bees Saving Elephants in Kenya

Since the formation of our project partnership with PAMS Foundation in the Karatu District of Tanzania, we have been making preparations for the first stage of Phase 1--mapping the farmland in Upper Kitete village. This requires the use of GPS devices, with the assistance of Elephant Guardians and our project field team, in order to determine farm boundaries and crop raiding hot spots by the elephants. The undulating land on the border of the Northern Highlands Forest Reserve can be challenging to access, and requires strategic team planning to ensure this task is completed both safely and in a time-efficient manner.

The new human-elephant coexistence project in Karatu forms part of a wider Wildlife, Community & Forest Protection Programme by Wild Survivors. Once the initial phase of the project commences we will be advancing onto the beehive fence installations, beekeeping, and Elephant Guardian training, to create a robust strategy for land protection, wildlife corridor preservation, and the safeguarding of the Ngorongoro Crater forest reserve.

Wild Survivors continues to develop our new wildlife technology, the BuzzBox. This low-cost audio deterrent device is a community-led initiative with rapid deployment achieved on the front-line of conflict between people and elephants. Now in its third generation, BuzzBox MK3 is being rolled out with advanced features including a new motion-detector for improved trigger accuracy, autonomous electronics for the bespoke designed interface and audio boards, solar panel trickle charger to power the high capacity rechargeable batteries, and the addition of two strobe-emitting lights (greatly disliked by elephants). We are building a new 12-month research project in Laikipia, Kenya, which will be managed by our in-country technical manager, Louis Kabani.  

We would like to thank you once again for your continued support of this work!

With Gratitude, 

Francesca Mahoney