This week a team of specialists from Kenya visited Livingstone to adise ZAWA on people and elephant conflicts around Livingstone and oversee the installation of a new deterrant system which will hopefully help reduce people-elephant conflict in the area.
The team brought with them skills and advice on an American light-based deterrant system which has been used in Kenya for the past year and is working well. Not only does it stop elephants, but also lions. The small solar powered units are attached to trees and telegraph poles.
Gill Standen, of the Livingstone Weekly, reports on eTurbo News: "It was found that if small flashing lights were fixed about 25 meters apart, elephants will not cross the invisible boundary. This is what is being done around the Mosi-oa-Tunya Park to stop them moving into town and farmland. Already lights have been put around farms in Linda which have been constantly hammered by elephants to the extent that the farmers have given up farming. Now, though, although the elephants appear around the farms they will not cross between the lights. Lights have also been put up near the Kazungula Road ZAWA Gate to stop them crossing into the Nakatindi Compound.
"The team is heading to Victoria Falls Town during the coming week to help the people there with keeping elephants where elephants should be and not in the town."
Original Source: eTurbo News, Elephants controlled by light, 16 June 2013
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