Selous jumbo protection goes hi-tech

        Dar es Salaam. Anti-poaching efforts got shot the arm in the Selous Game Reserve last month after experts started fitting elephants with global positioning system (GPS) collars.

Dr Edward Kohi from the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (Tawiri), who coordinates the project, says they intend to collar about 60 elephants in the Selous (SGR).

“This will enable us to closely follow the jumbos and monitor their movements. We will be able to immediately detect if anything happens to groups which we have collared,” he says.

In a pilot project conducted last month five elephants were fitted with the GPS collars. Dr Kohi says that was just the beginning and work will continue throughout the year with the purpose of safeguarding elephants in the Selous Game Reserve, which, in recent decades, has seen its jumbo population heavily decimated due to poaching.

Risk undertaking

According to Dr Kohi, fitting an elephant with a GPS collar is risky, given the size of the animals.

“One cannot approach it just like that, the first step is to put it to sleep. This involves injecting it with sleeping medicines using dart like syringes fired from special guns,” he explains.

Once an elephant is made to sleep, that is when experts step in and start the task of fitting it with the GPS collar, while taking key particularly about the elephant.

“Some of the key information we gather from the jumbos include measurements, age estimate and size of its tusks, these particulars are vital for wildlife conservation efforts,” he narrates.

However, he quickly points out that one of the major challenges of undertaking the task in the Selous is the fact that some jumbos live in the forests.

“It’s not hard to locate elephants that live in the open. But most elephants in the Selous live in the forests. Infrastructure is also not good. The terrain and nature of environment complicates matters. But, since we’re determined to succeed, we’ll do it,” says Dr Kohi, a wildlife expert.

He adds: “In some cases the elephants are mixed with other animals so you have to chase other animals in order to isolate the elephant that you’re targeting. This is also a risk and costly undertaking.”

While in December they used a small plane to locate the jumbos, when the exercise resumes, Dr Kohi says, they will use helicopters, which will make it easy spot the elephants and land near them.

Costly exercise

Each of the GPS collars costs around $6,000 (about Sh13 million), Dr Kohi says noting that is besides other costs incurred during the exercise.

The programme has been financed by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Mr Asajile Kajuni from WWF Tanzania Office, says the programme is very important for the nation as it is one sure way of containing poaching, which for years has been a serious problem in the SGR.

“Because we don’t have enough rangers to protect all elephants in Selous, collaring them (elephants) is the best way of monitoring their movements,” he says.

Mr Majuni says through the recent exercise, they have pinpointed shortcomings and other challenges which they are going to work on so as to ensure operations run smoothly and more speedily in future.

“We now know that Selous elephants mainly live in forests, therefore, we should be prepared to deal with that fact. We also know that infrastructure, mainly roads in the Selous are impassable during rainy season,” he says.

Mr Kajuni notes that the lessons they have learnt during December exercise will enable them prepare well for the main part of the activity.

The GPS collar

Explaining on how the technology works, Dr Kohi says the GPS in the collar communicates with a satellite and the communication is relayed to monitors.

“This way, we can monitor movements and activities of an elephant in real time around the clock,” he says.

This enables tracking of the elephants in many ways, says Dr Kohi. Elaborating, he says when the elephant stops moving it is great indication that it might have been killed. Or, when it moves slowly, there is great possibility that it has been injured. “Under such circumstances, rangers can quickly be dispatched for necessary action and so save the jumbo as well as arrest the culprits. We can even stop it from heading into danger by moving in and redirecting the herd,” he explains.

Distressed elephants

Elephant collaring has been going on in some game reserves and national parks expect for SGR. Given the seriousness of poaching, experts have also decided to go to Selous.

In mid-2016, a warning that was issued jolted the world. According to results of studies conducted by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), it was noted that Africa’s oldest reserve, the Selous Game Reserve, could see its elephant population decimated by 2022. This is if urgent measures were not taken to stem industrial-scale poaching.

Although it was known that SGR elephant population had diminished significantly due to poaching, but the revelation was shocking provided that there were already efforts to save Selous elephants.

Selous Game Reserve, the country’s largest protected area, was once a home to the greatest concentrations of African elephants on the continent, but rampant ivory poaching has seen the population reduced by 90 per cent in fewer than 40 years. Nearly 110,000 elephants once roamed the savannahs, wetlands and forests of Selous, but their number was reduced to about 20,000 in 2016.

The study was conducted on behalf of WWF by Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Among other things, it pointed to serious negative effects on Tanzania’s nature-based economy, if no intervention was introduced to save the jumbos. On the other hand, livelihoods of 1.2 million people would be put to risk.

Travel and tourism in Selous generate $6 million annually and the industry represents a combined yearly contribution of over $2 billion to the national gross domestic product (GDP).

Given its wealth in nature, Selous was given by Unesco status of the World Heritage Site. However, in 2014, Unesco placed Selous on its List of World Heritage in Danger due to, among other things, the severity of elephant poaching.

It reached to a point where an average of six elephants were being gunned down by criminals on the daily basis.

“Selous is the only natural world heritage site in southern Tanzania and one of the largest wilderness areas left in Africa. Its value to Tanzania - and indeed to the rest of the world - is dependent on its large wildlife populations and pristine ecosystems,” said WWF-Tanzania country director Amani Ngusaru, when he was interviewed after the results were released.