Elephant options in Africa

Ralph Pina — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:00:30 +0000

No doubt you have heard by now that South Africa has decided that culling will once again be an optional intervention in the management of elephant populations, albeit an intervention of last resort, to address what is known as “the elephant problem”. Elephant conservation has been enormously successful in southern Africa (58% of the population), to the extent that some conservationists now argue that there are “too many” elephants. Personally, I think that the problem could be restated as “too little elephant habitat”.

Bear in mind that the “pristine” population of elephants in Africa is estimated as having been of the order of 20 million. As recently as 1979 there were about 1.3 million individuals, and currently there are about 470000 to 550000 left. (For facts on the African elephant’s conservation status, visit the IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group site.)

We compete for the same ecological space and both species are prolific breeders. Most elephants in Africa actually range outside protected wildlife areas and one NGO, Living With Elephants, is striving to establish harmonious relationships between the species by working with rural communities in Botswana.

Another strategy involves stitching together conservation and wildlife areas across the subcontinent to re-establish ancient migration routes and to allow “meta-populations” of elephant to move in response to environmental pressures and for the ecosystems to function naturally. The Peace Parks initiative is a visionary and ambitious undertaking in this regard.

Translocating elephants into habitat that they once occupied has been singularly successful, although such protected areas are filling up so that there are fewer areas available to absorb the populations. However, Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve is one such area, and you can be part of such a translocation for 6 days in June to witness the re-establishment of herds of these majestic creatures in an area that has been devastated by poaching. Contact ecoAfrica Travel about this opportunity.

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Elephant options in Africa