By Dickson Bandera
In a significant boost to wildlife conservation efforts, eight African elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park have been fitted with GPS satellite collars as part of an ongoing initiative to reduce human-elephant conflict and enhance elephant protection.
The operation, led by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), took place over a rigorous 10-day period. Expert rangers tracked, immobilised, and safely fitted the elephants with EarthRanger satellite technology, which will now allow 24-hour monitoring of the animals as they roam across Hwange and surrounding communal lands.
This brings the total number of elephants collared under the IFAW-led Room to Roam programme to 16 since the start of 2024. The real-time data collected will inform strategic conservation planning and help authorities proactively address threats, especially in regions where wildlife and human populations overlap.
Hwange National Park is home to one of the largest remaining elephant populations in Africa. Conservationists hope the new technology will enhance efforts to secure migration corridors and safeguard the Hwange-Matetsi-Zambezi landscape, a key transboundary conservation area.
The Room to Roam initiative aims to use scientific data to guide every conservation decision, ensuring sustainable coexistence between people and elephants.
