Report written by our Kenyan Intern, Peter Ochieng Sagalla is located in Voi Constituency, Taita Taveta County. The Sagalla community has a long history of human-elephant conflict. A community is a group of people living in a geographic area, with ties of kinship and marriage, have complex characteristics of knowledge and habitats and share interest and control resource. The Elephants and Bees Project has had a significant impact on the Sagalla…

Report written by our International Intern, Acacia Jennings The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) forms international agreements that regulate plant and animal trade. Its purpose is to ensure that the trade of wild animals and plants is sustainable and their long-term survival is not at risk. Countries enter into the convention voluntarily as parties. For these parties, CITES is legally binding, meaning parties…

Field blog by Kenyan Intern, Purity Mwongeli Before the introduction of beehive fences, communities in Sagalla area were in constant conflict with elephants. Elephants use migratory routes, some of which pass through the area. The farmers used every method possible to scare away the elephants and stop them from raiding their farms, sometimes resolving to use of weapons. In the process of scaring them away, some of these elephants would charge…

Field blog written by our Kenyan Intern, Zachary Mutinda Lucy King was the name that my mentor kept mentioning to me shortly after they had been to Samburu working with ‘Save The Elephants’, commonly referred to as STE. When that name was mentioned, we all thought of collared elephants, research that has played a major role in elephant monitoring in Africa and beyond. I looked into the name Lucy King…

Field report by Ewan Brennan, Mobile Unit Leader & Project Logistics Manager Human-elephant conflict is always a complex problem. Factors such as land history, farming practices, education, geography and rainfall can all interplay to result in a dynamic and dangerous conflict scenario that can be detrimental to the balance of both communities and elephants living together in peace. Elephant impacts on livelihoods, food security and personal safety can understandably lead to…

Report by our Community and Livelihoods Research Assistant, Victor Ndombi Forest cover in Kenya stands at about 6.8%, for us to achieve UN recommended 10% cover, we have to plant more trees and avoid illegal logging. Charcoal burning is the main source of livelihoods to many communities in Kenya, but have we thought of its negative impacts on the ecosystem and environment as a whole? The cutting down of trees…

Report by our Community and Livelihoods Research Assistant, Victor Ndombi During my time as a community livelihood and conflict reduction intern, I came to learn how agriculture, women empowerment and elephant conservation go hand in hand in a community. It is popular opinion that agriculture and elephant conservation are mutually exclusive but if done right, these different and seemingly opposing concepts can be integrated, to work together.  Women empowerment On…

Report written by our international intern, Charlotte de Wolff By now you are probably aware that farmers in Sagalla are affected by human-elephant conflict, experiencing recurrent crop raids by elephants at night, which affects their household supplies for the season. Elephants would stamp on crops and feed on them, leaving a small percentage of crops to the farmers. Men and women work together to deter elephants and both work on…

Field Report from E&B Mobile Unit Education Officer, Naiya Raja Simon’s gate, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy   Last month, the Elephants and Bees Mobile Unit Team hustled and bustled our beehives, packed the vehicles with supplies, and ventured up to Lewa, north of the foothills of Mount Kenya. A catalyst for Kenyan conservation, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy has provided a secure habitat for multiple wildlife species, helping provide creative solutions for community…

Field Blog by Kenyan Intern Derick Wanjala Elephant tracking After elephants crop raid, crop raid assessment and tracking has to be done immediately. We work in Mwambiti and Mwakoma villages, both in Beehive fence farmers and Non-beehive fence farmers. We use GPS to record the tracks, while in the field we also do dung boli assessment which helps us to determine digestion status and sex of the elephant. Footprint assessment…