With thanks to the team at Mara Elephant Project for the following update.
“February started with low rainfall levels, and we eventually experienced the lowest river levels since we started the project in this area. Luckily rainfall increased later in the month. This month elephants visited the farm twice, with the second group of 13 elephants accompanied by five calves eating most crops as well as destroying structures. For the first time, we also have baboons crossing over the river and eating the garlic, which was one of the crops that had been previously identified as having zero predation for the last two years. A swam of caterpillars infested the farm and the whole of the Maasai Mara region but thankfully they mostly ate grass and a few of the broad leaf plants. This month the farm did not receive <human> visitors, but we were featured in the Boots on the Ground Podcast by Dibblex Lesalon. The team is starting the economy study and Abigael visited the Nature Oil Company located at Enoonkishu. They produce large hectares of tea tree, which is one of the crops doing well at the farm. We plan to stay in touch and hopefully collaborate in the future to understand the economics of this less predated
crop on the farm.”
Image at top: a new beehive fence installed on the farm.
Bee-hive fences
The award-winning Elephants and Bees Project established by Dr Lucy King is part of the Save the Elephants’ Human Elephant Coexistence Program. The project explores the use of Beehive Fences as a natural elephant deterrent, helping protect farmers and farmland. The idea is based on research using elephants’ fear of African honeybees to help reduce crop-damage. Beehive fences help create a social and economic boost to farmers through pollination services and the harvesting of ‘Elephant-Friendly Honey’.
“Beehive Fences are simple and cheap, made with no cement and using only locally sourced materials. Hives, or dummy hives, are hung every ten meters and linked together in a specific formation so that should an elephant touch one of the hives, or interconnecting wire, the beehives all along the fence line will swing and release the bees.”
Save the Elephants, Elephants & Bees Project
Image at top: MEP – a new beehive fence installed on the farm.
Above are the crops before and after they were eaten by elephants and other visitors: (from top) butternut, carrot, managu, onion, cucumber and garlic.
