People and Elephants

Eighty years ago, more than 3,000 elephants lived in Namibia’s Kunene Region.

Hunters and poachers killed most of them by the early 1980’s, by which time they numbered fewer than 300.



Left: Flattened gate at a commercial farm caused by elephants

Thanks to community-based conservation efforts involving community members, game guards appointed by their traditional leaders, NGOs and Ministry of Environment and Tourism (then Nature Conservation) staff working together co-operatively, poaching stopped, and the elephant population has now recovered to an estimated 700 animals. The desert black rhino population also benefited, with now more than double the number of animals than were counted at the height of the poaching. The people are justifiably proud of their success and of the abundant wildlife, which they continue to monitor and protect.                                             

Now that poaching is no longer a threat to the elephants, they move more freely over their previous range. Sometimes they drink near homesteads, where small gardens offer food too tempting to resist. People and livestock can be in danger if they have to share water resources with elephants. If no water is available at a reservoir, elephants might tear up pipes or knock over windmills or destroy taps looking for a drink. Most people lack the resources to provide ample protection for their gardens and water installations, to pump enough water for both their livestock and elephants, or to repair damages caused by elephant visits.       


The picture to the right, showing a windmill toppled by elephants at Goedgevind Post in the southern Kunene is one example of the damage elephants are capable of inflicting. On the commercial farms, elephants break fences and gates, leaving livestock to roam freely, which can destroy a farmer’s management scheme or his schedule to sell a group of cattle. Continual repairs to damaged windmills, solar panels, pumps, water pipes and fences have depleted their savings, leaving them with few options. Finding ways to protect infrastructure, people’s lives and livelihoods is the goal of co-operative management and research projects underway throughout the region.