Makuleke Transboundary Elephant Movements

The Save the Elephants (STE) Transboundary Elephant Research Programme has been studying elephant movements and range use patterns within Kruger National Park and adjacent Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) for almost five years, making substantial use of GPS telemetry and remote sensing data. The research focus of the Transboundary Elephant Programme is aimed at what motivates elephant movements to and from core conservation areas such as the Kruger NP.

The elephant question has been one of the most significant challenges facing conservation managers all over southern Africa for more than 50 years. This has particularly been the case in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Elephant numbers in Kruger increased dramatically from only 5 or so animals in 1905 to a ceiling of around 7500 elephants that was artificially maintaining from the 1960s through to the mid-1990s.

This ceiling was maintained through culling by Kruger's top scientists who at the time felt that elephants at high densities impacted negatively on vegetation and thus biodiversity. The debates are ongoing, especially now that Kruger's elephant population is over 12 000 animals with some proven impacts on biodiversity.

As a result culling has been accepted as a last resort by the South African government. Key elements that will guide whether this policy is re-implemented in Kruger are understanding in minute detail the seasonal movements and use of space and water by elephant herds in the Park. Pafuri with its 30km open boundary to Zimbabwe and containing the only perennial river in the north of Kruger is ideally placed to contribute to this research process and as such six cows and six bulls will be fitted with sophisticated satellite collars to determine their seasonal movements.