Greater Mkomazi
WHERE WE WORK
Mkomazi National Park is home to an abundance of wildlife including elephants, giraffes, zebras, and cheetahs. The region is critical for maintaining landscape connectivity across northern Tanzania as well as transborder connectivity with Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park.
However, human-wildlife conflict is an ongoing issue, with farmers and villagers competing with wild animals for resources. By signing a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) in 2022, we open the door to a new conservation collaboration that takes us to Mkomazi and Mikumi National Parks and surrounding communal lands.
By working hand-in-hand with local communities, the Tanzania National Parks Authority, and partners like the Tsavo Trust and Save the Elephants, we are ensuring that conservation goes beyond wildlife protection to enhance human well-being and secure a future for elephants in this region.
Laly Lichtenfeld, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of African People & Wildlife
On the Ground in Greater Mkomazi
New Efforts for Human-Elephant Coexistence
African People & Wildlife will kick off new efforts to help people and elephants live together peacefully in the Greater Mkomazi landscape in 2025. Partnering with communities, TANAPA, and like-minded conservation organizations, we’re training local elephant guardians to help mitigate and precent conflict while collecting important data about elephant movements and behavior. Our work also includes fitting elephants with GPS collars to better understand their regional movements and reduce conflicts.
By combining science, community outreach, and traditional knowledge, the initiative is focused on finding community-based solutions that protect elephants while supporting the people who share these spaces outside of protected lands. More coming soon!
Foundations for a Wildlife-Friendly Future
Since 2023, we’ve focused on building capacity in the Greater Mkomazi landscape to balance wildlife and people. Partnering with Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), we began with training, site assessments, and collaboration with local authorities and communities to launch our program.
We’ve since recruited and trained eight Warriors for Wildlife and one assistant from partner villages to reduce livestock-carnivore conflicts, collect wildlife data, and raise awareness about large carnivores' ecological value. In 2024, with Lion Recovery Fund support, we brought together communities, park authorities, and government leaders to share existing carnivore conservation strategies and develop plans to improve human-carnivore coexistence across the region in 2025.
Grassroots Management Drives Resilience
Livestock incursions in national parks like Mkomazi pose a threat to the forage available for carnivores’ prey species. By promoting best practices in rangeland management outside park boundaries, we build the capacity of communities to maintain adequate pasture. Partnering with four surrounding villages, APW launched a rangeland monitoring program in Greater Mkomazi in 2023.
Eight monitors were recruited and trained to evaluate monthly monitoring plots, collecting data on vegetation cover and invasive species to provide valuable insights into effective management practices that benefit livestock and wildlife. Just like monitoring programs in other APW landscapes, an Esri-based mobile reporting system allows for real-time updates on pasture quality, empowering communities with actionable insights for the implementation and enforcement of local grazing plans.
Hands-On, Community-Led Solutions
2025 is bound to be busy as our programming continues the transition from learning and preparing to active conservation management, including the launch of our new elephant project. Your donation ensures that communities are equipped to implement coexistence strategies on multiple fronts.
- Monitoring and mitigating conflict with big cats and elephants
- Installing new Living Walls to promote carnivore coexistence
- Adapting grazing plans based on pasture quality
- Implementing range restoration projects
Partners & Supporters
