Makuleke Transboundary Elephant Movements

Intro
The Save the Elephants (STE) Transboundary Elephant Research Programme has been studying elephant movements and range use patterns within Kruger National Park and adjacent Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) for almost five years, making substantial use of GPS telemetry and remote sensing data. The research focus of the Transboundary Elephant Programme is aimed at what motivates elephant movements to and from core conservation areas such as the Kruger NP. 

The elephant question has been one of the most significant challenges facing conservation managers all over southern Africa for more than 50 years. This has particularly been the case in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Elephant numbers in Kruger increased dramatically from only 5 or so animals in 1905 to a ceiling of around 7500 elephants that was artificially maintaining from the 1960s through to the mid-1990s. 

This ceiling was maintained through culling by Kruger's top scientists who at the time felt that elephants at high densities impacted negatively on vegetation and thus biodiversity. The debates are ongoing, especially now that Kruger's elephant population is over 12 000 animals with some proven impacts on biodiversity.

As a result culling has been accepted as a last resort by the South African government. Key elements that will guide whether this policy is re-implemented in Kruger are understanding in minute detail the seasonal movements and use of space and water by elephant herds in the Park. Pafuri with its 30km open boundary to Zimbabwe and containing the only perennial river in the north of Kruger is ideally placed to contribute to this research process and as such six cows and six bulls will be fitted with sophisticated satellite collars to determine their seasonal movements.

Background
Reliable observation data suggests that the elephants within the Makuleke Concession, in the far northern Kruger NP, exhibit clear seasonal differences in numbers. Occurrences are substantially higher in the dry season compared with the wet season. Movements out of the Concession area in the wet season are poorly understood, but it is assumed that the elephants move both southward within the Kruger NP and northward into Zimbabwe. The latter movement is obviously of relevance to the design of the Sengwe Corridor and the successful development of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park will eventually link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as two areas between Kruger and Gonarezhou, namely the Sengwe communal land in Zimbabwe and the Makuleke region in South Africa. This will all hopefully give elephants far larger home ranges in which they can move.

The Project Details
The primary objectives are: to make a meaningful contribution toward the appropriate design of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, and to develop insights into the seasonal distribution patterns of elephants in and around the Makuleke Concession. This research will no doubt contribute toward a wider study of elephant movement and range use patterns along the western and eastern borders of the Kruger NP.

Elephant movements and range use patterns will be determined by using GPS-satellite collars. Training of Wilderness Safaris guides to collect photos and data on individual elephants commenced in February 2008 and collars were fitted during the late winter months when elephant densities are highest. The data on the movements of the collared elephants will be added to the already planned maps of all the animals that have been collared by Save the Elephants across Africa and which will be hosted on the Google Earth website.

Project Notes
The reason for adding the Makuleke area to the research sites is to include an area of natural seasonal dispersal and apparent migration from a formally protected area like Kruger into a community area such as in south-eastern Zimbabwe, where hunting and other pressures exist and where Human-Elephant conflict can be ascertained. This will no doubt further contribute to the understanding of Kruger's elephants.

The appropriate location of the corridor linking Gonarezhou NP to the other protected areas is of particular importance and it is hoped that by collaring elephants in the Makuleke area will answer some questions as to their seasonal movements. To be successful, this corridor must meet the needs of the wildlife species it is designed for, and at the same time minimise the risk of conflict between these animals and peoples inhabiting the area.