Uncharted Africa Natural Selection, EcoExist, Okavango Community Trust, @halfwayngami, SATIB and DWNP are collaborating on a project aimed at improving the safety of the locals walking across elephant corridors. EcoExist announced this week via its Facebook page that the “Elephant Express” project would be launched in the new year. It further said the tow buses to be used in the project were currently being branded in Gaborone.
In the eastern Okavango Panhandle, elephants use distinct pathways to get from dry-land resources to the Okavango. The most utilised pathways have been designated as elephant corridors to ensure elephants can move and access the resources they need, without needing to move through villages or fields. These corridors cross the main road servicing the Panhandle villages and direct interactions between people and elephants occur.
The two buses will start operating in the New Year to service villages where higher densities of elephants occur. The buses will provide transport for eligible school children and clinic goers who usually have to walk across elephant corridors and are vulnerable to encounters with elephants – thereby reducing the chances of negative human-elephant interactions.
Source: EcoExist Facebook page
