Anti-Elephant and Hippo Barriers

The growing human population in Africa creates increasing potential for conflicts over resources between people and wildlife.

We focus on forest elephants (since 2022 in Congo), savanna elephants (since 2015 in Chad), and hippos (since 2021 in Chad), and on mitigating their conflicts with local small-scale farmers whose crops are frequently destroyed by these animals.

Attempts to protect fields and retaliation for crop destruction often lead to hostility toward these large herbivores, which can eventually escalate into poaching. In several communities, we work to establish and maintain projects aimed at reducing conflict and protecting at least part of the harvest by preventing megafauna from entering carefully selected agricultural areas.

In Chad, we protect farmland in 10 communities against savanna elephants using beehive barriers. Aggressive bees around crop fields can deter elephants while also providing farmers with valuable honey and pollination services.

To protect against hippos in the Logone River basin in Chad, we use solar-powered electric fences in four villages, together protecting more than 100 hectares of farmland.

We have also installed a more advanced electric fence near the village of Leboulou in Congo, where a pilot barrier currently protects more than six hectares of fertile land. Similar installations represent the first—or among the first—applications of such methods in these countries.

Another level of harmonizing relationships between megafauna and people is represented by our ongoing project in southern Chad, supported by the Czech Development Agency. In addition to addressing hippo-related conflicts, the project also considers the long-standing tensions between settled farmers and nomadic herders. Through community cooperation in goat and sheep breeding among women from both groups, we promote dialogue and mutual understanding.