A project on Ecotourism Development in Babile Elephant Sanctuary and adjacent localities, Ethiopia has been carried out as of March 2008. Potential sites of historic, nature (wildlife) and cultural attractions have been identified.
1) Wildlife in Babile Elephant Sanctuary (Babile ES) - Babile ES is one of the outstanding wildlife protected areas in Ethiopia and it supports the last survivors of the world elephant population in the farthest Horn of Africa. It is also a refuge for other large mammals such as the Black-manned lion, Leopard, Cheetah, the endemic Salvadori’s serine and other biodiversity. It is the prominent tourist destination area with regards to seeing Savanna elephants, for botanic researchers of high endemism in floral composition and diversity in avian population.
The Wildlife for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the Babile ES office worked in commencing development of ’Elephant Tourism’ – seeing elephants both guided by the elephants fitted with GPS satellite collars and by game scouts of the Sanctuary. Both methods have been applicable and many tourists have flowen to the area.
Tourists traveling to this area may have several advantages i.e. from the point of watching variety of birds, including the endemic Salvadori’s serine.
From the interest of plant diversity – the Sanctuary is known for its indigenous plant species though comprehensive assessments have not been carried out in the area.
2) Nearby Babile ES – Babile ES is close to a number of tourist attractions and a visitor will have the benefit of appreciating other historical, cultural and natural assets in the locality.
2.1 The historic Harer Town - Harer town, with its ancient history and its famous walls form exceptional tourist attractions drawing thousands of visitors every year.
2.2 Hyenas
2.3 The unique ethnicity of the Harari, Oromo and Somali people forms an exceptional mix of cultures imparting to this town a colorful and vibrant nature.
2.3 The presence of the interesting geologic rock formations at Dakata’s Rock Valley and the Prison House of Lij Eyasu in the Gara Mulleta Mountains are other important tourism attractions.
Major activities that the project has undertaken are:
1. Re-defining the boundaries of the Sanctuary
2. Producing a comprehensive Sanctuary Management Plan
3. Developing ecotourism through community participation
4. Developing capacity of the Sanctuary, local communities, and the WSD
5. Providing the detail accounts of elephants’ home range through GPS satellite telemetry, and
6. Reducing the rate of loss of wildlife habitats and minimizing the illegal killing of elephants.
The development of ecotourism particularly on elephants of Babille ES supported by the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite telemetry has started its service. The project deployed satellite collars on three bulls and satellite data have been received from collared elephants since August 2008.
Latest made collars manufactured by the DATA SCOUT in South Africa were used. So far, the collars have provided indispensable data. Such satellite-based elephant tracking is the first successful project in Ethiopia.
The 1st “satellite elephant” on 18 August 2008.
Date of collaring: 1 September 2008.
This ongoing project will be essential in monitoring GPS-collared elephants both from the air and from the ground. Collared elephants have been tracked from the ground using a VHF radio transmitter and a handheld GPS. Using these latter approaches we can work on population demography and some behavioral studies by approaching to the elephants.
Height at shoulder 3.67 m, 1 September 2008.
All bulls wore collars in Upper Erer Valley.
Why tracking elephants using GPS satellite telemetry?
This part of the project is among the major components of our initiatives in the national elephant conservation and management in Ethiopia. Satellite tracking of elephants in Babille ES has many advantages, including for management intervention:
1.To promote wildlife tourism
Efforts have been made to initiate wildlife-based ecotourism particularly on elephants since the inception of this project. In Ethiopia, most people wish to see elephants but making this possible was very difficult because of the lack of information on the location of elephants. Now, it has come to the reality that Babille has become the only conservation area in Ethiopia where “Elephant Tourism” can be initiated. Such satellite-based tracking of elephants will be starting in December 2008.
Bull groups under fig trees
2. To understand the movement/ranging patterns of elephants
The data will help the management authorities in reconsidering the existing land-use system in the surrounding area.
Movement data for all bulls from 18 Aug. – 07 Nov. 2008.
3. To understand the spatial use of habitats and associated disturbances to elephants
The spatial use of elephants over such areas can also be characterized.
4. To prepare Sanctuary Management Plan
A well organized management plan will be prepared for the sanctuary based on the knowledge of the seasonal home range of elephants and with clear understanding about the present land use system.
5. To alleviate human-elephant conflict
Once we know the daily and seasonal movement of elephants, it is possible to reduce the impact of elephant raids on crops and villages adjacent to the Sanctuary. Based on the location received from the collared animals, it is also possible to pass satellite-based early warning messages to the sanctuary neighboring agriculturalists, whose crops are subjected to raiding by elephants.
At present the position of collared elephants has been recorded every hour but we will change this at 4 hours reading per day (six positions per 24 hours) and these will continue for a minimum of two years.
Daily location of bulls in yellow on Google Earth.
Contact Address
Wildlife for Sustainable Development
P.O. Box 32099
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
Tel: +251-116-530-245
+251-911-643-388
E-mail: wsd-ethiopia@ethionet.et
Website: www.wsd.org.et
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