Slide background Community holding up a pawaga beehive Community holding up a pawaga beehive

Tanzania Beehive Fences

The Wildlife Connection

The Wildlife Connection is a small research project working closely with human-elephant conflict (HEC) affected communities living with elephants next to Ruaha National Park to improve human livelihoods and promote the conservation of natural resources. Wildlife Connection have begun testing beehive fences in partnership with local communities using traditional log beehives. View more about the project here.

“We are currently testing beehive fences in selected locations and have found that it very successfully deters elephants.”

– The Wildlife Connection

Serengeti Development Research and Environmental Conservation Centre (SEDEREC)

SEDEREC has conducted the first trial of beehive fences in three villages in western Tanzania on the border with the Serengeti National Park. Members of the team visited our Elephants and Bees Project site in Sagalla Community, Kenya, in a knowledge exchange program. Trial beehive fences built in Nyasirori and Rwamchanga Villages with 100 hives showed promising early results and the project has now expanded to 350 beehives and a third village. With variance in hive occupation in the area the project is now using a combination of deterrent methods, beehives interlinked with plain wire fences and plastic bottles to keep the elephants out.

“New beehive fence technology should be integrated in local government plans and tested widely to other villages bordering protected areas in Tanzania as it provides multiple functions to both human development and nature conservation.”

– SEDEREC

To see the latest article in Africa Geographic Magazine on this project in Tanzania: Click here.


The Southern Tanzania Elephant Project

The Southern Tanzanian Elephant Project (STEP) works to conserve elephants in the Ruaha, Udzungwa and Selous ecosystems in Southern Tanzania through a combination of monitoring and research, elephant protection programmes, community projects and advocacy. 

The project received joint funding from UNESCO and Fauna and Flora International to erect trial beehive fences to try to reduce HEC for five neighbouring communities in the Udzungwa Mountains, and the response from the communities has so far been very positive. They have published a peer reviewed research paper on their first results from their beehive fence trials and the paper can be downloaded from their website.


Wild Survivors Project

The Wild Survivors project was established to support a peaceful co-existence between people and wildlife, specifically elephants. The project has introduced beehive fences in a farming community near Tarangire National Park to protect them from crop-raiding elephants moving between the park and community land.

In addition to beehive fences, the project also combines community education by engaging the Maasai on protecting land use and empowerment through training community rangers thus providing alternative sources of income to poaching. Wild Survivors are also protecting elephants from conflict by creating safe passages for elephants by mapping out migration corridors in Tanzania.