Ecoexist X Beabond
Anna Songhurst
On following her dreams to conserve elephants and protect the livelihoods of people in Botswana
We had the absolute pleasure to speak with Dr Anna Songhurst co-founder of Ecoexist Trust the NGO in Botswana fostering human-elephant coexistence. We spoke about living and raising children in the Okavango Delta and Anna shared her journey to founding Ecoexist.
What inspired you to protect elephants?
At the age of 4 Anna told her parents that she wanted to save the elephants and she followed her dream; with a degree in Zoology from Trinity Dublin and a PhD that took her to Botswana researching the issues of elephant conservation in Botswana she then co-founded Ecoexist Trust in 2008 with her husband Graham McCulloch, putting ideas and research into practice to try to reduce human-elephant conflict.
What are the challenges for Ecoexist?
In Botswana the main difference and challenge of conservation is that most of the elephants fall outside of the protected fenced areas having an open landscape means that the animals travel vast distances for food and water; and this is how elephants can come into contact with humans, crops and settlements.
There are 130,000 elephants roaming freely through the region’s maze of waterways, reed beds and grasslands and where they compete for space with people there are conflicts; elephants might raid crops and destroy property but also people might convert the elephants natural habitat into farmland.
You have a very holistic approach to conservation, what are some of the initiatives that you have introduced?
Initiatives that are working very well include land use planning, by collaring elephants in the region and tracking their movements for 10 years Ecoexist has identified 13 elephant corridors, the ancient highways of the elephants, these are areas of land that will not be developed on, they are reserved for the elephants.
Supporting farmers Ecoexist has also introduced chilli fences, these are deterrent fences to keep elephants away because the chilli pepper irritates their trunks meaning they will not raid the crops.
Ecoexist also launched the award winning Elephant Express in January 2020, joining up with Natural Selection and the Okavango Community Trust to transport Children to and from schools safely as well as patients heading who are provided with transport during the school day.The Elephant Express won the Conserve Africa award at We Are Africa’s Innovation Awards.
Anna and Graham believe this holistic approach is integral to their success. 'If you really want to save wildlife, you have to better the lives of the people who live with the animals,”
BZZZZ but that’s not all!
Using beehives is another way to deter elephants collaborating with Elephants and Bee project in Kenya, a project started by Dr Lucy King, Ecoexist has introduced fences made from beehives that keep elephants at bay while also helping farmers establish new livelihoods. This is in part thanks to the support of tourism operators including Wilderness Safaris who donated 80 beehives.
What caused the elephant mortalities earlier in the year in Botswana?
Ecoexist supported the DWNP with survey work, shortly after speaking with Anna the results were made public. It was reported that the cause of 330 elephant deaths in Seronga, Okavango Delta the test results of blood, soil, water all show that the cause is Cyanobacteria which are toxic bacteria that can occur naturally in standing water and sometimes grow into large blooms known as blue-green algae. Discover more
How has the pandemic affected Ecoexist?
Luckily Ecoexist has been able to carry on with their work in the field in spite of the reduced of support from the luxury tourism operators, overall there has been a huge impact on economy in Botswana and everyone is waiting for tourism to come back.
Ecoexist focuses on bringing benefits back to people who live alongside elephants and diversifying tourism, one example is the Life with Elephants tour, it is a cultural experience to teach people what is like to live with elephants, and right now this and many other small enterprise’s that cater to the tourism industry are unable to operate, they have no safety net and no subsidies.
What advice would you give your younger self?
If you have ideas be prepared that you might need to diversify and change things. Bring in other people’s opinions and advise…its more important to learn from everyone and you might need to change the path to get to the end goal….don’t let that distress you and upset you that’s part of the journey.
“Follow your dreams and if you really believe in something continue to do it…the challenges are worth it, keep pursuing your dreams.” Anna Songhurst
Ecoexist X Beabond
To help support human-elephant coexistence we have designed a collection of bracelets, we give 100% of the profits from Ecoexist X Beabond designs to Ecoexist Trust. To date, we’ve donated more than 2,500 EUR.
Photograph courtesy of Amanda Stronza, taken from the Living with Elephants foundation