By Boniface Keakabetse

Elephants are a symbol of Botswana’s wildlife tourism and her revered conservation story. But they also cause great distress and destruction to farmers’ livelihoods in areas where they live.

 Historically, when elephants wander into ploughing fields, it has resulted in catastrophic crop damage for farmers and a wave of impoverished farmers.

 However, the worst part is that these encounters can sometimes turn violent, with some people getting killed by the elephants while on the other hand the elephants get shot in retaliation.

The devastation of human and wildlife conflict

This situation is known as Human and Wildlife Conflict, and it takes place mostly in Northern Botswana.

For farmers who rely on their crops for sustenance, roving elephants are becoming a greater issue. Due in part to ecosystem deterioration brought on by urbanization and climate change, elephants are increasingly entering farms in search of food and water, causing property damage in the process.

This behavior jeopardizes the livelihoods of farmers, resulting in a vicious cycle of conflict that is harmful to both as the elephants gets shot to death by farmers in retaliation.

To address the issue, Botswana adopted its Elephant Management Plan (EMP) in 2021, which includes a section on handling localized conflicts between humans and elephants. It is crucial to remember that the management plan has not been carried out since it was introduced in Maun in April 2021 by former Vice President Slumber Tsogwane.

The Government has repeatedly highlighted the inclusion of elephants on the hunting quota as one way they are assisting in conflict management, even though they are not putting the EMP into practice.

Oaitse Nawa’s Innovative Approach

Oaitse Nawa steps in at this point by promoting what he believes to be a ground-breaking remedy that could alter this gloomy story. We must emphasize that his suggestion is impacted by his seeming aversion to elephant killing and his ideas about potential solutions to end the practice.

As introduction, Oaitse Nawa (47), the founder of the nonprofit organization Elephant Protection Society (EPS), is a certified professional safari guide.

Nawa founded EPS In 2018, an NGO whose mandate is to conserve elephants and the community livelihoods of people living in wildlife areas.

He started from the bottom in Okavango delta’s tourism sector working as a scullery then waiter for Wild lifestyles Mobile Safari, now Nawa is a fierce critic for trophy hunting.

In order to prevent elephants from invading agricultural regions, Nawa has devised a smart method that involves installing solar electricity on the buffalo fence, increasing the amount of solar power on farmers’ fields, and digging boreholes to water the elephants.

The Famous Buffalo Fence

The Buffalo Fence is a veterinary fence that keeps the buffalo away from cattle farms and divides farming areas from the Okavango Delta. The purpose of the 1982 fence was to stop livestock from contracting foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from diseased buffalo. Many people believe that the Okavango Delta may have been saved by this fence, which encircles the Delta and runs throughout the district.

The fence has been unpopular with certain conservationists throughout the years. They have accused it of killing migratory wildlife species and of splintering and limiting the mobility of smaller populations.

Nawa, however, recently voiced his opinions on the matter, claiming that the buffalo fence would help spare elephants from the miseries of trophy hunting and getting shot by farmers.

During a news conference he held at Riley’s Hotel, he told reporters about his plan to demand that the buffalo fence be maintained and then electrified using solar power to choke and stop elephants from crossing it and wreaking havoc on the farming areas.

Solar Fenced Ploughing Fields

The use of solar-fenced ploughing fields is one such technique that is gaining popularity in various areas; Nawa has thought that using funds from the Conservation Trust Fund, Government could come with a targeted project of enticing communities to use solar to fence their ploughing fields. CTF is responsible for funding the conservation of elephants and the development of community-based projects for communities living adjacent to elephant ranges. Conflict arises as human activity spreads into elephant natural paths to critical resources like water necessitating creative solutions to avoid conflict, stated Nawa.

Digging boreholes to supply elephants with water

The Okavango Delta is a lush sanctuary that supports a wide variety of plant and animal life when it is fully flooded. However, Elephants are forced to migrate or move vast distances in search of food and water during dry months. They frequently come into contact with human settlements and this ignite conflicts.

Nawa has stated that to address this they recommend a sustainable solution: digging boreholes that tap into underground aquifers. This innovative approach not only alleviates the immediate water shortage for elephants but also promotes coexistence between humans and wildlife.