748 M. Montero‐Botey et al.


FIG. 1 Location of visited villages with crop damage by elephants in the Selous–Niassa Wildlife Corridor, Tanzania.


private reserves inAfrica (Mossaz et al., 2015;Grünewald et al., 2016) through investment, for instance, in anti-poaching and fire management. In southern Tanzania, hunting by tourists is the main source of private investment in many areas. Some hunting companies provide an allowance to Game Scouts or Rangers, to motivate them to focus on anti-poaching activities or chasing away elephants. The importance of private invest- ment in biodiversity conservation is nowof particular import- ance (IUCN, 2016). Little is known, however, about the impact of private investment in the context of human–elephant inter- actions in Africa. A greater understanding is required of how private investment may affect human–elephant coexistence from the social, economic and environmental point of view, to facilitate identification of the best practices for both human well-being and elephant conservation. In this study we evaluate the interactions between hu-


mans and elephants in the Selous–Niassa corridor in Tan- zania, a priority natural corridor that includes traditional elephant routes between two of the largest remaining ele- phant populations in Africa (Mpanduji, 2004). Historically, in southern Tanzania, a high number of incidents, some of which have threatened human lives, have been reported and problematic animals have been killed (TAWIRI, 2010). The Selous–Niassa ecosystem therefore presents a unique opportunity to analyse the origin and extent of damage by elephants, and to seek insights into potential management and conservation solutions to reduce such damage. Specifically, we aimed to investigate: (1) elephant crop pre- ferences and damage along the boundaries of the corridor,


(2) the relative importance of water and food availability (pre- ferred and non-preferred food) to crop damage by elephants, and (3) the effect of wildlife management regimes involving the presence of private investors (mostly hunting companies) on the occurrence and intensity of elephant crop damage.


Study area and species


The Selous–Niassa Wildlife Corridor includes part of the world’s largest Miombo woodland ecosystem (the Selous– Niassa ecosystem), linking the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania with the Niassa Game Reserve in Mozambique (Fig. 1). This corridor lies within the Tanzanian adminis- trative unit of Ruvuma Region (Districts of Natumbo and Tunduru), and covers an area of c. 17,030 km2.Mean annual rainfall is 1200–1300 mm in the north, decreasing towards the south to 800 mm along the Ruvuma River, with a warm and rainy season during mid November–mid May, and a mean annual temperature of c. 21 °C (Baldus & Hahn, 2009). Elevation ranges from 460 m at Ruvuma river to 1,284matMtungwe Hill. Vegetation is mostly domi- nated by Miombo woodlands, with high spatial variation in plant composition. Savannah woodlands with baobab trees (Adansonia spp.) are also common along the Ruvuma River. People of the local communities are mostly subsistence farmers who focus on shifting cultivation and the produc- tion of some cash crops such as cashew nut, sesame, rice and maize. Apart from agriculture, the economy of the area also depends on forestry and mining.


Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 747–754 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000978


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