Elephants in Botswana
Radio collars and workshops that help farmers and other local people to live with Elephants.
100% of your gift goes to the project
Living with Elephants
Over the past years, we managed to raise more than 54,000 Euros for the Elephant conservation organisations that we work together with: Elephants Without Borders and Ecoexist Trust.
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Elephants Without Borders
Elephants Without Borders (EWB) is dedicated to conserving wildlife and natural resources. Through research, education, and information sharing they aim to encourage mankind to live in harmony with wildlife and the natural world. EWB focuses on monitoring wildlife movements with satellite tracking, coupled with aerial surveys and reconnaissance flights to accumulate and utilise the data for improving strategies to address complex issues as human-wildlife conflict, creating sound policies in wildlife management, and establishing wildlife corridors within and between countries.
elephantswithoutborders.org -
Ecoexist Trust
Ecoexist Trust works to enable people and Elephants to coexist in shared landscapes, creating conditions for thriving communities and connected Elephant populations. Working alongside communities in northern Botswana, Ecoexist combines practical conflict mitigation, education and outreach, Elephant Aware Farming, safer access to water and transport, and community engagement to reduce the risks and costs of living with Elephants and build safer, more resilient livelihoods.
ecoexisttrust.org
Radio collars South of the Okavango Delta
In 2016, EWB, with the support of Omogolo Wildlife Trust, deployed the first radio collars on Elephants in the area South of the Okavango Delta.
EWB continues to deploy monitoring collars on Elephants across Botswana and international borders. During the last 10 years, they have accrued an impressive dataset monitoring more than 75 Elephants and herds across southern Africa.
These collars produce important information about the movements of the Elephants between Namibia and the Delta. Information that will help determining which action can be taken to reduce human-Elephant conflict.
EWB has been conducting long-term studies monitoring Elephants and wildlife movements across the landscape, at a broad scale (movements between countries) and at a finer scale around villages and towns.
Small scale corridors can be effective tools to avoid potential wildlife conflict by allowing wildlife to safely access needed resources. Without access, wildlife have no other choice but to find their own adaptive way through an ever-changing mosaic of human land-use.
Once corridors are identified, each pathway is carefully monitored, using camera traps and other methods to determine the effectiveness of the corridors to alleviate conflict.
Workshops in the villages
Both organisations work with communities to reduce the risks of living alongside Elephants.
Ecoexist Trust combines education and outreach with a wider landscape approach to coexistence. Working with communities in northern Botswana, Ecoexist helps people understand Elephant behaviour, improve safety around Elephants and reduce crop losses through practical measures such as Elephant Aware Farming and solar-powered cluster fences. This work is linked to longer-term efforts to protect Elephant movement corridors, improve community safety and strengthen livelihoods.
With support from Omogolo Wildlife Trust, Ecoexist works with technology partner Hack the Planet to test innovative approaches to reducing human-Elephant conflict. This includes testing technology-based systems to detect approaching Elephants and deter them from entering fields and other high-risk areas. By combining new technology with field testing and local knowledge, the work aims to develop practical solutions that improve safety and help protect crops and livelihoods for communities living alongside Elephants.
Elephants Without Borders (EWB) also conducts community workshops in areas where Elephants come into close contact with villages and farms, sharing practical knowledge and tools on Elephant behaviour and movement that can help people protect themselves and their crops and reduce harmful encounters with Elephants.
All these efforts help communities develop practical ways to live more safely alongside Elephants, reducing risks for both people and wildlife.
There is still a lot of good work to be done in the area of Human-Elephant Conflict!
Orphaned Elephants back in the wild
EWB is proud to have rescued, rehabilitated and re-introduced orphaned Elephant calves back into the wild. Because every Elephant life matters, and when their abandonment is due to human induced incidences, it cannot be ignored. The Elephant Education program at the orphanage offered access for students to learn about Elephants, general Elephant behavior, biology, conservation and safety measures when encountering them. Because the Botswana government sought to not support it, the sanctuary closed its doors in 2022 and the orphans were moved to the Okavango delta for the next phase of their rehabilitation. They had grown old enough to be weaned from milk and are now also weaned from human care. Currently they are adapting to be Elephants in the wild (under careful watch) before they are finally released.
Botswana has the largest Elephant population remaining on the African continent
Ironically, the recovery of this country’s Elephant population has led to growing concern about how to manage this large population.
Beyond the parks
Some people are worried that Elephants have recovered in greater numbers than the environment can sustain, and there is significant concern over increasing human-elephant conflict.
Elephants are re-occupying areas where they formerly occurred and spend 65% of their time outside protected areas. While these unprotected lands support large numbers of Elephants and other wildlife, they also support extensive human populations.
This means that there is a critical need to provide for an extensive network of wildlife corridors and to promote a sustainable management strategy for both people and wildlife.
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Photo: Ecoexist Trust -
Photo: Elephants Without Borders -
Photo: Elephants Without Borders -
Photo: Elephants Without Borders
We’d like to invite you to become part of this exciting work!
Give to the ElephantsProject partner
Elephants Without Borders and Ecoexist Trust
Give to Elephants in Botswana
100% of your donation goes to this project. We work for the foundation on an unpaid basis and cover bank charges and other overhead costs out of our own pockets.
