Upper Kitete Elephant Corridor is a crucial migration route for around 1,000 elephants connecting from the Ngorongoro Crater to Lake Manyara, two of Tanzania's six biosphere reserves. As habitat has become fragmented, elephants are increasingly isolated and pressures increase on natural resources, leading to escalating conflict with people. A patchwork of farms borders the corridor on both sides, and extending across the landscape, tempting elephants to crop-raid the wheat, barley and maize farms at night.
The corridor is an essential refuge for wildlife and a community area for the neighbouring commmunities. At only 3km wide and 10km long, the once densely forested corridor supports rich biodiversity and fauna including including lion, leopard, hyena, elephant, waterbuck, bush buck, porcupines, serval and genets.
The community crosses one track to reach essential services on the other side, with schoolchildren also traversing the track to reach schools. Crop-raiding by elephants and dependency on natural resources leading to habitat loss, threaten the corridor and its function in the ecosystem. Women in the community are particularly margenalised. As the family’s firewood and water collectors, they depend on access to corridor and must navitate challenging terrain and monitor wild animal movements and changes in weather patterns. They are also placed at greater risk of wildlife interactions, dehydration and lung disease (from cooking on open fires in small enclosed areas).
To advance the protection of the corridor, and improve community wellbeing, we introduced the Women's Beekeeping Enterprise with the NARI Women's Beekeeping Group. Beekeeping helps to bridge the gap in historic gender inequality and creates financial independence for women. The Enterprise Hub, with a symbolic elephant and honeycomb shape, is a learning centre for beekeeping, permaculture, biogas, water harvesting, and the cultivation of elephant unpalatable crops. The hub, managed by the women's beekeeping group, provides diverse income-generating activities to empower women with new skills and business opportunities while reducing dependency on firewood and water collection from the elephant corridor. "We follow the bees. They show us the way; how to work in partnership with nature, to protect a future for wildlife and our children." Group leader, Mama Ema.
Read more: https://wildsurvivors.org/women-and-bees