THE USE of dried, crushed chilli peppers to deter elephants is helping communities in the transfrontier area between Kwandu Conservancy in Caprivi and Imusho in Zambia to peacefully co-exist with elephants.
Imusho is located in Zambia’s Sioma Ngweze National Park and falls in the Zambian part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFC).Conservationist Carol Murphy say about 28 farmers are trying out chilli fences and ‘chilli bombs’ or briquettes and about 50 farmers are growing chillies in Imusho. A similar initiative is taking place in neighbouring Kwandu Conservancy, where people experience the same impact of elephants moving north into Angola and Zambia from northern Botswana.’Chilli bombs’ keep elephants at bay because their sense of smell is much keener than that of people. The ‘chilli bombs’ are made by mixing dried, crushed chillies with elephant dung and water. They are then left to dry. When elephants are about to enter crop fields or approach people’s homes, ‘chilli bombs’ are lit and emit an acrid smoke that elephants cannot stand, making them run away.Murphy says farmers in the two neighbouring communities are also trying to stop elephants from destroying their fields by making their fences elephant proof.Dried crushed chillies are mixed with used engine oil and pieces of cloth soaked in the mixture are tied onto fences surrounding crop fields.When elephants come near these fences, they are driven away by the chilli fumes.The Kwandu Conservancy is also located in the KAZA-TFCA, a transboundary conservation project between Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The KAZA-TFCA vision is to establish a world-class cross-border conservation area and tourism destination in the Kavango and Zambezi river basins.Murphy made a presentation at the annual general meeting of the Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) held at Shamvura Camp in the Kavango Region last month.Her paper focused on the KAZA-TFCA, the use of ‘chilli bombs’ and ‘hot fences’ to deter elephants from destroying crops, and conservation farming activities in the Imusho area.She said with the help of non-governmental organisations, conservation farming is helping farmers of this community and also in neighbouring Caprivi to establish smaller. permanent fields that are easier to protect and produce much higher yields than traditional farming methods.’The use of chilli as an elephant deterrent and conservation farming are helping people to live with wildlife,’ said Murphy. The Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) based in Pretoria, South Africa, is funding conservation activities in Imusho.
