A lot of is still unknown about elephants’ dietary preferences and deterrence crops. To expand our knowledge and create replicable methodologies, we studied elephants’ preferences towards 18 different types of crops, the majority of which are of high combined economic value (food, essential oil, medicinal and bee fodder value) and suitable for growing in Southern African climates. The cafeteria-style experiments allowed us to evaluate several plants that have never been tested in terms of their palatability to elephants. Our results showed that herbs such as borage and rosemary with medicinal and aromatic properties, respectively, were strongly avoided together with bird’s eye chilli (a well-known elephant deterrent crop). We found that lemon grass and sunflowers, presented as whole fresh plants to the elephants, were edible to the elephants. This is surprising, as both plant types have been described as unpalatable to both Asian and African elephants alike.

According to our overall scoring system, four food types proved best suited for the proposed corridor region (Bird’s Eye Chilli, Cape Gold, Cape Snowbush and Rosemary). Of these, only Bird’s Eye Chilli had been tested before. The other three plant types have been used in producing essential oil and hold great promise for income-generation.

Starting from the knowledge that over 50% of elephant movements are outside of Protected Areas (PAs) and over 75% of elephant populations are transboundary, we used a satellite tracking approach to identify which wildlife corridors are most used by elephants.

While our initial plan was to establish a corridor between Gonarezhou (high elephant density) in Zimbabwe with Banhine and/or Zinave National Parks (low elephant density) in Mozambique, insufficient tracking data and reports linking the PAs in these countries (Zimbabwe to Mozambique) to define a conclusive corridor has made us shift our geographical location to Namaacha Valley in southern Mozambique. Here several elephants that we had collared outside of PAs in the hope to find more corridor moving individuals between PAs across southern Mozambique, have defined a vital corridor covering the southern extreme of the KNP, south towards Tembe National Park in South Africa and east towards the Futi corridor and MSR on the coast of Mozambique.

The collaring of elephants and analysis of the tracking data have shown us that existing PAs are too small for elephants. Using elephants as the landscape planners for connectivity across national boundaries, enabled us to identify human-elephant conflict hotspots where efforts are most likely to have the largest impact.

This project encouraged the participation of youth and community volunteers to gain support and increase local knowledge of the importance of protecting local ecosystems. Increased community involvement will work to build capacity while empowering and strengthening local conservation efforts. The group of volunteers we currently work with is a mix of residents and visitors, men and women, young and old and from a wide range of backgrounds.

Efforts are made to keep policymakers involved and inform them of the importance of mangroves in general and restoration in particular to gain their support. 

Community livelihood initiatives have to be linked to market and promotion for them to be sustainable and provide a financial impact that they have been designed to bring forth. 

When building the capacity of a community to produce eco-friendly items, there is a need to establish a very good foundation of how these products will reach the market but also what are the demands in the market when it comes to quality criteria. Leather items in particular especially items made with Naturally tanned leather stand a chance in the market, however they need to meet high quality standards and be promoted so as to enhance consumers to know of their existence. For this solution initiatives were taken to assess the market for Leather products in main cities such as Nairobi town, Arush Town and even Zanzibar to identify shops or dealers who would be willing to purchase the products. 

Promotion of the products in different platforms is also very key through catalogs, social media and participation in fairs/exhibitions. Market linkages and promotion is a bridge for the community livelihood initiatives to bring financial benefits and make communities willing to continue the production chain.

Eco-Friendly Leather Tanning and Manufacturing knowledge is an upgraded concept of curing naturally hides and skins from livestock. The initiative targets  vulnerable women who are illiterate and have limited opportunities as well as skills. 

Training has been tailored to specifically reach these target beneficiaries using simple instructions and toolkits as well as a more practical approach. The training has been conducted in Maasai language mostly and Kiswahili in other cases. The simple methods of measurements and cutting has proved to be adaptable and understood even among the illiterates. For most women, this has been one of the only formal skills they have received in their lives. Most importantly, during the training a set of skills were identified among beneficiaries and nurtured in the followup sessions. 

The first Learning exchange done where women from Kenya traveled to Tanzania and learned in an established Leather Center was a remarkable turn and it created a huge impact in how they received the initiative. They were very eager to have more women in their country trained and benefit  from the activity. The knowledge and skills offered have changed the mindset and transformed the livelihoods of women.

The Leather Tanning and Manufacturing for women has been made successful through stakeholders engagement and partnerships. Among the key stakeholders includes the government representatives who have played a key role from building the concept, selecting the beneficiaries, participation in the training and making follow-ups for the leather centers. Access to a building to be equipped has been possible through this collaboration. The District Community Development officials have taken a clear role to monitor and supervise the women groups, assist them in registrations and even provide access to market during any events/fairs organized by the government.

Other key stakeholders include private companies, lodges, individuals in the areas who have provided markets for women’s produced goods. 

The implementing partners to the project including ZSL and SORALO have been supportive in ensuring that the solution is rolled out successfully in Kenya as it was in Tanzania. They carried the role to ensure that OIKOS EA is introduced in the communities in Kenya and they have enabled good flow of communication with the government in the project area.

In June 2019, RRFB started the first larval propagation project in Bonaire in collaboration with SECORE International. The goal of the partnership is to establish a technical cooperation in which RRFB provides local knowledge, manpower, field logistics, and a facility, and shares all field trial results, monitoring data, and qualitative feedback on methodologies and technologies provided by SECORE Int. In return, SECORE Int. provides techniques, methodologies, expertise and training sessions on larval propagation. This partnership's knowledge was crucial for successfully implementing larval propagation techniques in Bonaire. By consistently sharing results and lessons learned, the technique was improved, leading to greater success and scalability for future project replication.

An excellent communication plan/network with different stakeholders was initiated across different levels. From the inception of the project, the community and other stakeholders were constantly capacitated on how the project is going. A relay of relevant vulture conservation and policy issues was achieved to the target stakeholders within the communities and KAZA TFCA.

The achieved results relied heavily on the collaboration and cooperation partnerships among various stakeholders, including government agencies, conservation organizations, scientists, and local communities. Collaboration with the Ministries/Government departments was key in sensitizing the communities on issues around human-wildlife conflict and suggested environmentally friendly ways to mitigate the conflict. The scientists were there to collect information related to wildlife poisoning and give feedback to the government ministries. The communities were the key stakeholder since they are the sole custodians of the environment.