#health

About the project

The Challenge

Communities that farm beside the borders of the Aberdare National Park in central Kenya have struggled for years with elephants wandering across their farms and destroying their crops. Aside from the financial loss and threat to food security in the area, these confrontations can also result in injuries and fatalities when the farmers attempt to drive the animals off their land.

The Intervention

A novel solution has made such deadly cations a thing of the past. In partnership with the Rhino Ark charitable trust, Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service, the Foundation has funded the construction of two ‘elephant grids’ where the fence of the Aberdare National Park and Forest Reserve intersects public access roads.

Spanning the width of the roads, the KShs 4,602,885 grids are constructed from rolling metal bars with gaps between them. Human and vehicular traffic can cross the girds without difficulty, but the animals are deterred from doing so by the movement of the bars and the gaps.

The Impact

“The conflict at these locations has been addressed and local communities can live without fear,” confirms Colin Church, Chairman of the Rhino Ark charitable trust. “The Foundation is one of the pillars upon which our conservation success has been built and we are most grateful for the wonderful relationship that we have with them.”