One proven method to resolve human wildlife conflict with elephants

The success story continues with this rather simple method to resolve human wildlife conflict.

How it began

Several months back Moses Ryakitimbo in Tanzania reached out to us. As the founder of ‘Alert for endangered wildlife species’ (AFeWiS) Moses was very concerned about elephants invading the farms bordering the Arusha National Park. After visiting with numerous farmers and doing a bit of research on methods to resolve human wildife conflict he came upon a viable solution. Elephants don’t like bees. Building beehive fences along crop land perimeters supposedly keep elephants away.

Moses sent us a proposal to build 10 beehives. If this phase one proved successful to resolve human wildlife conflicts with elephants, he envisioned beehive fences as a simple cost effective solution to a huge problem.

What do you know? Five of the first ten beehives we almost immediately occupied and kept elephants at bay! Read more…

Results of Phase One

With the success of Phase One a few things were noted. When beehives are closer together they make a stronger barrier. With this almost immediate success to resolve human wildlife conflict with elephants more farmers are inquiring about getting a beehive fence.

Phase Two

Phase Two with another ten beehives was initiated. This 20 beehive fence protects five farmers’ croplands. Based on the results of Phase One, two alterations were made…

1. The design of the beehives was changed to last longer and accommodate the bees better
2. The beehives were placed closer together to create a stronger barrier.

The downside of these changes are a) slightly more expensive beehives and b) more beehives needed.

Reports so far

The initial reports from Phase Two are coming in. Here’s what Moses wrote:

The new beehives donated by Nikela for phase two were installed on Thursday 18th of July 2019 and 13 days later, five beehives were already filled with bees.

“They have entered!” explained Mr. Baraka one of the farmers in the project who called us with the good news. A few days later. Mr. Baraka told us that the elephants came 5 times trying to cross into the farms, but the bees did a few attacks on them. The elephants responded by cutting a few trees as a sign of anger, walked by the farm borderlines and went to the next village.”

Sorry for the next village! Guess they’ll need beehive fences too!

I asked Moses about leaving corridors for the elephants. He replied that there are open areas for them to pass by the villages.

Bottom line, this method to resolve human wildlife conflict with elephants appears to be working well.

Another Problem

Moses’ major problem of course now is the ongoing funding to build more beehives.

We’ve come up with a solution

If you sponsor one or seven 100% goes to…

• Buy the wood and materials
• Transport the materials to the workshop
• Construct, paint and label the beehives
• Transport to the field
• Install in the field

All this for only $109.50

Oh, did I mention you now get to name your beehive? Andreas, our very first sponsor, honored his baby boy Johann. The Vawdrey Family really got into it and sponsored 7 beehives.

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From a beehive sponsor… Nancy P.

“Thanks for the good work you do sponsoring those on the ground, like Moses. This gift is to honor my mother who will be 96.”

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Who are you going to honor?

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Nikela is a fundraising nonprofit on a mission to help people protecting nature, especially doing wildlife conservation.