Human-Elephant Conflicts In Meru National Park And Its Environs:the Influence Of Elephant Migratory Patterns And Climate Variability

Meru National Park and its adjacent areas are faced with continued elephant raiding influenced by their movement patterns. Kinna, Baibario, Kawiru and Ndoleli located within the environs of the park are the leading hotspot areas of human elephant conflicts. Encroachment of human activities into the wildlife conservation areas has caused unusual movement and change in their migratory routes, thereby increasing the incidences of crop raiding. Changes in land-use patterns have resulted to competition for resources between humans and elephant. There was urgent need to establish sound conservation, management plans and strategies towards resolving conflicts, promoting homogenous co-existence so as to reduce impacts of climate change in Meru National Park.The objectives of the study were to; identify economic activities, establish the nature and extent of human-elephant conflicts, the variation in rainfall patterns, quantify the cost of living with elephants, establish the elephant movement patterns in relation to crop raiding and quantify changes in land-use patterns and trends. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The survey was confined within Kinna, Baibario, Kawiru, and Ndoleli sub-locations of Ndoleli division, Igembe district. The target population comprised of100households from the four strata’s and a total of20homesteads from each stratum formed the sample size. Purposive sampling was used to select the sub-locations. Sub-locations were taken as strata’s and homestead as the sampling unit. Data collection was done using both primary (site visits, field observation, focus group discussions, interviews and questionnaire) and secondary data. Farms with crop raiding incidences were geo-referenced and mapped using ARCGIS9.2GIS software to produce crop raiding distribution maps. Trends of land use changes were achieved through classification of Landsat-7ETM+, MSS and TM images of1970,1980,1990, and2009. The data was analyzed using both the descriptive (frequency and percent) and inferential statistics (chi-square [χ2] and t-test) using5%level of significance.The findings showed that55%of communities living adjacent to Meru National Park were mixed farmers, with29%arable farmers,13%pastoralists and4%business persons as well as Jua kali Vendors. The high incidences of crop raiding in Baibariu location were associated with a larger number of arable farmers than the rest of the locations. The large scale cultivation practices aggravated the crop raiding by elephants. Crop raiding takes place throughout the year with the greatest losses taking place during the periods of August, January and February which coincided with the time of the ripening of the crops. There was no statistically significant association between cost of elephant’s raid (χ2=67.50;p=.236) and amount of rainfall. The raids was not influenced by the amount of rainfall but occurred only by chance. The cost of raid (χ2=120.00; p=.242) was not influenced by the month it occurred. The number of elephant’s raids was not evenly distributed and its incidences were not predicted by the month. The total cost of crop raiding between August2010and July2011was Kshs10,346,540(USD129,331). There was a significant difference in monthly cost of elephant crop raids. No relationship existed between the season of raid [t=-.176, p=.464] and the cost of raid. The costs of crop raiding depend on the factors such as the type of crops raided, community vigilance and extent of destruction. Due to increased farming activities between2010and2011, extensive destruction of crops re-sulted to high costs. Farmer’s adequate guard to their farms ensured that the costs of losses resulting from crop raiding by elephants were reduced. The wet season home range size was comparatively smaller than dry season home range sizes and showed no significant association in cost of raid and season (χ2=12.00; p=.285). The raids of elephants are not evenly distributed in any season. There was no significant relationship between the cost of crop raiding and the rainfall, month, season, number of raids and incidence of raids. The forest and shrubland grassland decreased drastically between1970and2009, while the farm and riverine vegetation increased. The impact of crop raiding was devastating and farmers need to be encouraged and assisted to adapt to mitigation measures which enhances reduction to crop raiding losses especially being vigilant and guard their farms against raiding elephants.To ameliorate possible conflicts between people and wildlife is through land use plan. Collaboration and sustainable management between the community living adjacent to Meru National Park and the Kenya wildlife service should be embraced to reduce the menace. The findings will help in mitigating the impacts of human elephant conflicts in areas adjacent to Meru National park.