Embracing harmony between people and elephants on Mount Marsabit, Kenya

In December 2022, our team from Marsabit, alongside a member of Chorora Women’s Group underwent training on apiary management, beekeeping and bee ecology to enable us to understand the best strategy to handle human-elephant conflict using bees as a means of mitigation.

Continuous drought and the quest for pasture and water have recently led elephants to come into conflict with people in Karare village, Marsabit. This interaction has resulted in two people being killed and the destruction of crops by elephants in December 2022. Simultaneously, bee species in Mount Marsabit are on a decline. Using bee fences and metal strip fences in Gorongosa, Mozambique and Kasigau, Kenya, has proven to be cost-effective interventions to resolve human-elephant conflict. By introducing these fences in Karare, we anticipate these methods will enhance human-elephant coexistence whilst promoting the conservation of bees

The goal is to address human-elephant conflict and promote the conservation of bees.
Our objectives are to:-

1. Conduct a baseline study by September 2023 to identify and map out the most vulnerable and affected members of society who suffer the consequences of human-elephant conflict.
2. Build awareness and capacity-building targeted to 50 people from Karare village. The workshop will co-create bee and metal strip fences as cost-effective and easily implementable solutions to discourage marauding elephants from local farms.
3. Install these fences with community buy-in and monitor their effectiveness over one year.