Effects of human-elephant interactions at water sharing points in villages adjacent to Rungwa-Kizigo-Muhesi Game Reserve, Tanzania

MSc Dissertation

The sharing of water sources by humans and elephants is one of the common practices in societies surrounding protected reserves in rural areas across Africa. However, there is little information known about how elephants in Tanzania utilizes water sources beyond formal protected areas and the strategies to manage these challenges. This study was conducted around Rungwa-Kizigo- Muhesi Game reserve in south-western Tanzania to address the following objectives: i) to identify the main types of water sources that are shared by people and elephants on village land, ii) to examine temporal patterns in elephant use of water sources on village land, iii) to assess the number and group composition of elephants that are using village water sources, and iv) to examine community experiences and perceptions resulting from sharing water sources with elephants. Data was collected via camera trapping (n=1,369 camera-trap days between November 2021 and May 2022), key informant interviews (n=25), and questionnaires (n=188 households) among households adjacent to water sources known to be used by elephants. Data from questionnaires and key informant interviews was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The test statistics used was the chi-square goodness of fit test to test the likelihood of respondents having directly experienced a problem with elephants at a water source. Additionally, logistic regression was used to explore the effect of village habitation, sex, education, age, duration of residency, and experience of respondents on willingness to share the same water sources with elephants. Camera trap images were classified using ExifPro 2.1 software and the overlap package in R software was used to generate smoothed non-parametric kernel density distributions showing the timing of elephant visits to water sources over 24 hours. Results showed that shallow wells dug by hand provided the majority of the villager‟s water needs, and 92% of elephant camera trap detections occurred there. The camera traps detected 24 elephant visits to water sources, all of which occurred at night. Female-led cow-calf groups were present in 58.3% of visits and male elephants were present in 75.0% of visits. From camera trap photos, we identified at least three distinct cow-calf groups and eleven distinct bulls. Analysis of social-economic data revealed that the majority of households (85.0%) had witnessed elephants at their primary water source and 85.2% of respondents stated they had directly experienced a problem when using a water source that was also being used by elephants. It was further revealed that women were more likely than men to have directly experienced problems with elephants. Generally, around 59.9% of respondents were unwilling to share water sources with elephants. In conclusion, key findings include the prevalence of hand-dug shallow wells as the primary water source for villagers with a high incidence of elephant visits, particularly at night. The main concerns were: elephant damage to shallow wells, delays due to elephant presence at water sources, fear of meeting elephants at water sources, water contamination, elephants being trapped inside wells, and elephants dying inside wells. To address these concerns, community members recommended constructing boreholes and communal water taps and increasing support from Game reserve rangers when elephants are on village land.