"Warned in good time" This village in Zimbabwe uses GPS against elephants

Elephants regularly destroy fields and threaten supplies. A new tracking system helps to locate herds in good time and avoid dangerous encounters.

When the warning signal flashes, Capon Sibanda starts pedaling. He rides his bike from house to house, to all those in his village near Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe who have no telephone or internet access. He has already alerted everyone else in advance via WhatsApp: The elephants are coming.

The fact that Sibanda knows so early and can react so quickly is thanks to a new tracking system for the elephants. Some of the animals are fitted with GPS collars that track the movements of the herds via satellite. The data is then sent on to warn the neighborhood of the national park in good time when elephants are approaching a village.

The system, which was introduced last year by the South African country's national park authority together with the animal welfare organization IFAW, is intended to prevent dangerous encounters between humans and animals. "When we started, it was more of a challenge, but now it's phenomenal," says Sibanda. The 29-year-old is one of a number of volunteers from the villages who have been trained to monitor and raise the alarm.

Climate change drives elephants into the villages

For generations, the villagers have tried every possible means to keep elephants away from their villages. They bang on pots or burn dung to drive the animals away with noise or smoke. But until now, the elephants have always been very close before humans could react. In addition, climate change with severe droughts and dwindling resources has recently led to the elephants increasingly heading for the villages in search of food.

Thanks to the new tracking system, the inhabitants are now better prepared. People still reach for their pots and pans, but they are ready when the animals are not yet threateningly close. "Now we are warned in good time and the rangers react more quickly," says farmer Senzeni Sibanda.

"We have too many elephants anyway"

But she is not entirely satisfied. Some of the animals should be hunted and marketed so that the villages can benefit, she believes. "We have too many elephants anyway."

The elephant population in Zimbabwe is estimated at around 100,000 animals, almost twice as many as the country can easily accommodate. However, almost no elephants have been culled in Zimbabwe for almost four decades. The reason for this is pressure from animal rights activists and high costs, says park spokesperson Tinashe Farawo.

Senzeni Sibanda is calling for an increase in the hunting quota for elephants. This currently stands at 500 animals per year. And the farmer believes that her community should receive more of the proceeds. Currently, the village only receives a small portion of the proceeds, about as much as an elephant is worth - between 10,000 and 80,000 dollars. Among other things, the village uses this money to repair water pipes or build fences to keep the animals out.

The new recording system also logs incidents such as crop damage or attacks on people and livestock by predators such as lions or hyenas. Attacks by humans on wild animals are also recorded. The platform also creates the basis for conservation decisions to be based on solid data, says Edson Gandiwa, Director of the park authority.

Leading cows with GPS collars

A start has been made with the elephants. Sixteen animals, mostly herd leaders, have been fitted with GPS collars. But there is still a lot to do. Around 45,000 elephants live in Hwange Park. There is actually only room for around 15,000.

The debate about the large number of elephants in parts of southern Africa continues to make headlines, even beyond the continent. In September last year, protests erupted after Zimbabwe and Namibia proposed culling elephants in the midst of an oppressive drought in order to feed the villages.

There are simply too many elephants, the countries concerned insist. Last year, the then Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi suggested that Europe should be offered some. Germany was offered 20,000 animals, London's Hyde Park 10,000. Environment Minister Dumezweni Mthimkhulu explained: "Then the Europeans could see for themselves what it is like to live side by side with elephants.