For decades, elephant conservation was a “fortress” model, keeping elephants inside parks and people outside. That worked only on paper. In reality, endangered African elephants range far beyond park borders in search of food, water, and genetic exchange. Today, effective elephant protection demands solutions that travel with the herds, bridging protected and unprotected lands and putting local communities at the center of decision-making.
Why Elephants Matter to Tanzania
Tanzania shelters about 60,000 African elephants, the continent’s second-largest population. That herd has rebounded from ~43,000 in 2014—after poaching wiped out 60 percent of the country’s elephants in just five years—thanks to tougher law enforcement and community-based elephant conservation programs. Although poaching has dropped by nearly 90 percent, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict still imperil this slow-breeding species, underscoring the need for innovative, landscape-wide elephant protection.
Ecologically, elephants are keystone engineers. Each adult consumes up to 150 kg of vegetation per day, pushing back woody plants and maintaining the open grasslands on which wildebeest, zebras, and pastoral livestock depend. When they feed, elephants disperse thousands of seeds; scientists have shown that some elephants carry half the seeds they ingest more than 2.5 km and can transport some as far as 65 km, farther than any other land mammal. During droughts, elephants use their tusks to dig deep waterholes that become lifelines for gazelles, lions, and countless smaller species. By creating pasture, planting forests in their dung, and unlocking underground water, elephants regulate ecosystems that support hundreds of other animals and store significant carbon.
The benefits ripple into Tanzania’s economy. Wildlife tourism, driven by sightings of elephants in places like Serengeti and Ngorongoro, accounts for about 10 percent of national GDP and fueled a record US $3.9 billion in revenue from 2.1 million international visitors in 2024. Healthy elephant populations draw safari guests, create jobs, and fund local development from sales. Conversely, when elephants vanish, entire tourism value chains falter.
In short, elephant conservation lifts up Tanzania’s habitats, climate resilience, and rural prosperity. APW’s community-driven elephant projects embrace this big-picture reality. By equipping villagers to coexist with roaming herds, we simultaneously help elephants in Africa and secure the ecological and economic engines that sustain Tanzanian communities.
APW’s Approach to Elephant Conservation
African People & Wildlife supports a network of local Warriors for Wildlife—more than 160 trained community coexistence officers—who combine traditional knowledge with GPS data and low-cost deterrents (chili smoke bricks, roman candles, air horns, flashlights) to keep elephants and farms safe. Because officers live where elephants roam, they can respond quickly, share real-time data, and adapt tactics as seasons shift.
Importantly, the same network that protects elephants also safeguards big cats, buffalo, and other wildlife. Coexistence can work across species, and scale across multiple landscapes, when communities lead the effort.
Mkomazi–Tsavo Corridor Update
Sixteen new officers now serve eight villages flanking Mkomazi National Park, strengthening rapid-response capacity along a route used by more than 14,000 elephants. Five GPS-collared elephants also feed live movement information into a shared database which will eventually guide communities to act before herds reach ripening crops.
Greater Serengeti & Ngorongoro Update
Since 2022, nine village HEC Officers and NCAA partners have recorded a 52 percent drop in peak crop-raiding months and responded to more than 1,200 incidents around the Ngorongoro landscape. Expansion underway adds Ayalabe, Tloma, Doffa, and Kambi ya Nyoka, extending protection by 15–20 km along the park boundary with eight additional officers. Leveraging APW’s deep beekeeping experience, community beehive fences will be piloted later this year in collaboration with local partners.
Greater Lake Natron Update
Twenty officers across ten villages now log and deter conflicts under WWF-UK’s Land for Life initiative in Greater Lake Natron. Early data—200 elephant sightings in late 2024 alone—already guide grazing-plan fine-tuning and hotspot mapping in this semi-arid landscape. In addition, football-based awareness events have engaged 120+ residents and strengthened interest in village working groups for ongoing conflict monitoring and response.
How to Help Elephants in Africa
This work isn’t possible without human-wildlife coexistence officers, partner communities, and leadership from Tanzanian authorities at all levels of governance. Progress is also powered by Global Conservation, Conservation Nation, Elephant Crisis Fund / Save the Elephants, Novum Foundation, Disney Conservation Fund, Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation, and WWF-UK’s Land for Life.
Your support becomes immediate, practical action on the ground:
(1) Provides stipends, gear, and ongoing training for community officers.
(2) Funds mitigation toolkits, elephant collaring, and data analysis.
(3) Expands proven elephant projects into new hotspots.
Join us today—donate, follow our updates, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram—and help elephants in Africa thrive alongside the communities that call these landscapes home.
