Richard Muhabwe the Chief Warden Kidepo Valley National Park. Photos by Phillips Kica
By Phillips Kica
Karenga: Elephants originally roamed within the confines of national parks. However, for years, these greyish giants have been venturing outside the parks’ restricted boundaries, destroying crops, and causing injuries and in some cases, deaths.
Phillips Lokong, a resident of Kaabong district, one of the districts that borders Kidepo Valley National Game Park said for years, the elephants frequently wandered into his village, putting the lives of the people at risk.
“It was a constant battle to keep them out of our land,” Lokong said.
Now, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit organization, has introduced beehives as an inexpensive and creative alternative to scare elephants from straying into the community and causing destruction.
The beehive fences function by establishing a self-sufficient, passive deterrence mechanism.
The sounds of approaching elephants cause the bees to begin buzzing, driving the elephants back into the park’s protected sections.
“The sound and potential for a painful sting is enough to deter even the largest of these animals from approaching the hives,” explained Dr. Sophie Nantongo, a specialist in apiculture.
Gertrude Kirabo, the senior warden and community conservation officer at Kidepo Valley National Park, said that thirty members of the local community have been assisted in the beehive project using the park’s revenue sharing, to a tune of Shs 18m.
The money was used for buying 40 beehives for revenue sharing, while 30 were purchased by the African Wildlife Foundation.
The revenue also facilitated community members to go on a study tour, learn the fundamentals of apiculture, and buy necessary tools.
Kirabo argued that the beehive intervention is a win-win situation since the parks can preserve their ecological balance and safeguard the elephant populations, while the surrounding residents gain from a decrease in human-elephant conflict.
Chief Warden Richard Muhambwe of Kidepo Valley National Park, revealed that while the various deterrent measures against elephant invasions are showing positive results, the beehive project has been tested and proven successful in Kidepo Valley National Park, and other national parks in the country.
UWA is looking into the idea of extending the beehive intervention to other national parks whose neighboring communities are experiencing elephant encroachment.
Wilson Kagoro, the head warden of Murchison Falls National Park, said that an electric fence spanning more than 100 kilometers is also being installed in Nwoya and Oyam districts, where several reports of human-wildlife confrontations have been made.
According to Kagoro, the introduction of beehives has also significantly contributed to improving the community’s safety and livelihoods through the sale of honey and other bee products.
Raising the Village, a charity organization suggested building a fence shaped like a beehive along the paths frequently used by elephants to access crop fields.
The planned 593-beehive southwest fence would pass several communities and cover 6 kilometers of access points around the national park’s hilly terrain and river basins.
In the north, a 5.35 km fence with 318 Kenyan Top Bar hives and 167 local hives made of 1,110 concrete poles were installed in February 2023.
