Human-Wildlife Coexistence

In the village of Bomassa, at the entrance to the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the northern part of the Republic of the Congo, it has long been unthinkable to farm. This is due to an exceptional concentration of forest elephants (0.7 individuals per km2), who have a particular taste for fresh produce.

These forest giants, which eat more than 150 kg of vegetation every day, venture into villages at night and will ravage crops. A recurring problem that seemed unsolvable, despite numerous attempts to deter them from approaching. Then, in the late 2010s, the idea was raised to build an electric fence to keep the elephants away from the crops.

In northern Congo, human-wildlife conflict is a concern both for the critically endangered forest elephants and local people, whose food security is at stake.

"Since the 2000s, the Park and communities have tried many different solutions: chili hedges, beehive fences, warning shots, but none of them have produced satisfactory results, either because they were ineffective or because the communities did not buy into them, and people remained dependent on outside markets" explains Cisquet Kiebou-Opepa, who is in charge of monitoring the Elanga electrified field, which has emerged as a viable solution to the human-wildlife conflict problem.

The farmers pay a small monthly fee to maintain the fence, and contribute some volunteer work, including the task of clearly away vegetation around the fence.

On average, each hectare will produce up to 55kg of peppers, 141kg of sweet potatoes, but above all an estimated total of nearly 1.8 tons of cassava leaves, and 11 tons of tubers. A yield very close to those found in traditional plantations (which typically yield 13 tons per ha).

Among the most diligent participants in the Elanga project, Jean Pierre Ndinga, known as Ebende, never fails to participate in the cleaning around the fence every Thursday. "The big animals used to disturb our crops, but now the electric current has said ‘no, you can't enter the fields anymore’. When we started working in this field, it was a pride for us here in Bomassa. Now we can eat saka-saka, cassava, plantains..." he says in his native language, Mbangombe.

The tenants of each of the 59 plots are of course not all equally attentive. The payment of contributions is often delayed, and the sums collected fluctuate, depending on the situation of each person. However, an upward trend in payments and participation seems to be emerging, as people are increasingly aware of the advantages of Elanga, whose viability has been documented by an in-depth study by Steeve Ngama, a Gabonese elephant expert working for IRAF/CENAREST, in 2021.

Prior to the creation of project Elanga, a fence of this model was installed at the Mbeli research camp. In this scientific research site within the Park, the density of elephants threatened the safety of the researchers. "Elanga was done at the request of the population, those who work on the research sites saw how the fence had helped secure the camp, and so we held consultations with the communities to see how we could implement the project in Bomassa, this time to secure crops," explains Yves Londza, a program officer of the Park's community development department.

And in the end, this model worked. "Elanga is an initiative that should now be considered a "textbook case" and a rare success story to be popularized," writes Steeve Ngama.

Every morning, Lazar is in charge of checking the whole fence: the growth of plants, the fall of branches, the degradation of the trees on which it rests could generate a loss of power and would make the fence ineffective. Based on a system of photovoltaic panels and batteries, the electrified fence is unique in that it is topped by long metal needles that prevent elephants from lifting the fence with their tusks without getting an electric shock.

Using existing trees as supports for the fence is one of the reasons why the Elanga project is so cost-effective: by avoiding the need to build pillars, the project has been able to save up to 30% of the standard cost of an electrified fence.

Since 2019, the project has worked: no elephant has managed to get into the field. However, it is not for lack of trying: attracted by the smell of the crops, elephants come to visit the field with regularity, up to 15 times in one month in 2020.

Thanks to camera traps that have allowed us to observe their visits, we know that elephant visits are becoming less frequent. The camera traps are now being used to try to identify other species that may be coming to damage the fields. And nowadays the only remaining traces of the elephants' passage are large footprints left when they turned back, deterred by the fence.

While dozens of initiatives to reduce human-wildlife conflict have been considered, studied, or tried in the past, it is electricity that has been most effective in deterring elephants. "The Elanga project electric fence is in itself an adaptation of the principle of electric fences to the conditions of dense rainforests. It is a successful contextualization of a method that originated on cattle farms," writes Steeve Ngama.
Elanga is a successful trial run, offering the communities surrounding Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park one of the most sophisticated elephant deterrents at an affordable price, with proven effectiveness. This initiative, which will be replicated in other villages in the Park’s periphery, has the added benefit of making tangible the positive impact of wildlife conservation efforts for local populations.