TANZANIA: Drones Used To Repel Elephants Away from People

In the Serengeti region in Tanzania, conflict can arise between humans and the elephants that graze on their crops. The U.S.-based nonprofit RESOLVE is testing a new way to reduce these clashes while protecting both elephants and humans: drones. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Christopher Livesay traveled to Tanzania to learn more about the technique.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: The massive elephant footprints are still visible in Kusekwa Elias’ cornfield. Just outside the Serengeti national park in rural Tanzania, he says an elephant pillaged the field two days earlier.

KUSEKWA ELIAS: There is no animal we hate here more than elephants. The elephants destroy our food. Children sleep hungry. Sometimes you cultivate acres, only to find out the elephants have eaten them all.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: To keep elephants safely apart from people and their crops, park rangers are training with remote-controlled drones a few miles away. It sounds like a swarm of bees, and that’s precisely the idea.

NATHAN HAHN: So we’re trying to turn them around and get them going back. So there’s the matriarch is being vigilant, while the rest leave.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Nathan Hahn is a researcher with the American non-profit “Resolve.” In this training exercise, an elephant stands its ground against the drone. But quickly backs away.

NATHAN HAHN: There they go…

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: For more than two years, Hahn has been studying the use of drones to prevent what’s known as human-elephant conflict, when elephants cross paths with human beings.

NATHAN HAHN: Human-elephant conflict, it’s a big problem anywhere there’s elephants and people coexisting. And it’s very, it’s very tough to deal with. Elephants need a lot of resources and a lot of space to move. And people also need that same space and resources to develop and grow economically. So you get this butting of heads around park boundaries where wildlife is.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: The Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania is made up of Serengeti national park, and a network of game reserves and wildlife management areas just outside of it. Inside the park, there are clear rules meant to protect both animals and humans: for instance, you can drive only on marked roads and must stay in your vehicle at all times. But just outside the park is another story. Nothing stops animals, including elephants, from wandering into areas where people live.

While the African elephant population has fallen 30 percent over the last decade, the elephant population has increased in the Serengeti, thanks in part to anti-poaching efforts. Since 2006, the number of elephants is up more than 250 percent. At the same time, the human population has also grown, increasing more than 50 percent since 2002.

Julius Keyyu is the director of research at the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, a government agency.

JULIUS KEYYU: The increase in human population has resulted in demand for more land for human settlement, for cultivation, for livestock grazing.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: So both people and elephants are fighting over the same natural resources?

JULIUS KEYYU: Natural resources. Because it is becoming scarce, because of climate change. So you see wildlife, people, livestock are sharing water resources.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: And that’s created a greater likelihood of conflict. Farmer Mbesi Ndongo says an elephant nearly killed him a year and a half ago.

MBESI NDONGO: The elephant was hiding in the forest and came suddenly and knocked me down on my head. I picked myself up but it pulled me back with its trunk and threw me. I knew that by the time it would be done with me I would be dead. But I did not want to die without fighting.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: The attack left him with a fractured skull and wrist. He still suffers from pain today and can no longer farm, so he has trouble supporting his family.

MBESI NDONGO: It has really affected my life, because I cannot perform duties that require a lot of energy. All the energy I had is gone.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Veterinarian and animal protection specialist Nick de Souza says destruction caused by elephants can lead people to violently retaliate.

NICK DE SOUZA: This could be a spear, a bow and arrow; slingshots are used a lot.

Unfortunately, the worst of all is the use of poisons.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: de Souza has worked for conservation groups for the past 15 years.

NICK DE SOUZA: The consequences are appalling. You find both dead and dying animals in quite large numbers that cross cut across the whole family spectrum, from tiny babies, to grandmothers.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: There are no reliable numbers on how many elephants people kill in self-defense or retaliation around the world, but conservationists believe the problem is getting worse. De Souza says human-elephant conflict occurs everywhere elephants live in the wild near human settlements, with deadly consequences for both elephants and humans.

From sub-saharan Africa to Indonesia, to India, elephants kill hundreds of people every year.

NICK DE SOUZA: What’s really the challenge is that the population that co-exists with elephants are the most marginalized communities on Earth.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: In those communities, there are a variety of old-fashioned methods for preventing elephant incursions.

Scaring them off with loud noises and flashing lights, as these rural Tanzanians demonstrated. Surrounding crops with fences covered in hot chili oil, which torment elephants’ sensitive trunks. And rangers charging at them with vehicles. Or using guns.

They’ll actually fire live rounds into the air and that’ll sometimes scare the elephants away.

Many of those tactics can put humans dangerously close to an elephant. But wildlife ranger Rainley Mbawala says the newest method — of using drones — is much less risky.

RAINLEY MBAWALA: When you use a gun, sometimes an elephant charges back, or you may fire a gun and end up firing at a villager accidentally. But the drone has no bad effects, because even when the elephant charges, nobody is caught in between.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Over time, elephants often outsmart conflict mitigation tools once they get used to them. But researchers say, so far, elephants haven’t caught onto drones.

The breakthrough came a few years ago when researchers were taking aerial photos of elephants and made a surprising discovery.

NATHAN HAHN: It turns out they’re very scared of the drones. They would run away almost instantly and seem to be very frightened. We’re not sure why. It could be it sounds like a swarm of bees. There’s lots of flashing lights. It’s this big, white object kind of coming at them very closely.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: There was a sort of unintended benefit?

NATHAN HAHN: You think you’re using a drone just to film some elephants, and all of a sudden you’ve discovered this new way to deal with human-elephant conflict.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Hahn and his research group now train Serengeti park rangers to use the drones and collect data to measure their effectiveness.

In 2016, Hahn and Julius Keyyu co-authored a study of 51 instances in which drones were deployed.

JULIUS KEYYU: If it is used properly and properly maneuvered, the drone is 100 percent.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: 100 percent effective.

JULIUS KEYYU: 100 percent effective to flush elephants out of a crop field or, if I’m called with the farmers, that elephants are coming to my farm, to drive them back.

NATHAN HAHN:I just need to land.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Of course, the drones have limitations.

NATHAN HAHN: The wind is too strong!)

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: They don’t work in high winds and rain.

They’re also harder to use at night, when most elephants raid crops. So rangers need to use them in tandem with a strong spotlight.

And drones are of no use if rangers can’t arrive to deploy them, as we saw during a night patrol the rangers allowed us to join. On this night there’s not a single vehicle on hand, so rangers are limited to what they can cover by foot. If a farmer calls to report an elephant threat just a few miles away, they’re on their own.

Serengeti district game officer John Lendoyan oversees the region. He’s not yet convinced that drones can be effective and says that at roughly $800 dollars per drone, he has more pressing priorities.

JOHN LENDOYAN: The issue of human-elephant conflict is sometimes very difficult for us to address because of lack of resources including people, vehicles, and sometimes gas. So implementing these new techniques is difficult.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: Lendoyan is focused on educating people to avoid elephant habitats and to appreciate the value they bring to the country’s tourism industry.

JOHN LENDOYAN: The government has tried to create an environment in which villagers can benefit from the conservation process. The daily fees from the parks, and these funds are usually channeled back to the public through development projects.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: The government does pay damages to people who are injured or lose crops because of elephants. But many farmers we met with – including Kusekwa Elias, whose cornfield was pillaged – say elephants are the government’s real priority.

KUSEKWA ELIAS: From the way we see it, elephants are more valuable than humans, since they can destroy our crops and nothing is done.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY: For now, Hahn and his group “Resolve” are donating drones to the rangers, though they hope Tanzania will eventually pay for them. Resolve is also working with the government to try and find longer-term solutions.

NATHAN HAHN: It can definitely be described as a reactive solution. But in the end, it’s what’s needed right now. And that’s how we look at drones.

TANZANIA: Destination Tanzania More Expensive Because Of 18% VAT To Tourists

When tourism stakeholders met with former President Jakaya Kikwete in the beginning of last year, they agreed to identify challenges facing the sector and put it in the lab of Big Results Now (BRN) to analyse and ultimately improve the business environment.

Mr Kikwete was the chairman of the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC).

A committee was formed by the industry players from both public and private sectors and compiled a report with seven pillars of challenges facing tourism - ranging from threat to wildlife, poaching, and dynamite fishing to multiple taxes.

The report was ready at the time democratic choices had put a new government and that way, Mr Kikwete could not receive the report he promised to work on to address the challenges.

When President John Magufuli met representatives of the business community last December, the stakeholders gave him the report, with challenges they wanted addressed, they say.

According to them, they also presented the same report to the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, and he received the presentation well.

When June 8, 2016 came, nothing had been done to address any of neither the identified challenges nor put tourism in the lab of BRN - the Malaysian model of development initiative adopted in the country which aims at adopting new methods of working under specified timeframe for delivery of the step-change required.

On top of that, a new challenge emerged when Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango announced the introduction of the 18 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on tourism services.

Despite all efforts to have the new tax removed, they hit a snag as Parliament endorsed both the Budget and the Finance Bill unchanged in the particular section.

That means, destination Tanzania is becoming more expensive by increasing its cost by 18 per cent to tourists when they enter national parks, game drive and marine cruising among others.

"VAT is not bad but the issue is its timing. We had identified challenges which the government has not yet worked on them and now it comes with the new problem. The sector needs support. What can VAT do for tourism?" says the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) executive secretary, Mr Richard Rugimbana.

As the new tax emerges, the budget for the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) was still low compared to other competitors.

Kenya's marketing budget is about Sh90 billion but that of Tanzania is about Sh5 billion and has been up and down. Yet the countries are seeking visitors from almost the same markets.

Sources from the industry say that TTB will not even participate in the London-based World Travel Marketing (WTM) in November - a global annual event for the travel industry to meet industry professionals and conduct business deals.

Kenya introduced VAT on tourism in 2013 but its implementation, plus security challenges brought about by the terrorist attacks, affected the sector so much that the country scrapped it effective this July.

While the tourism players were contemplating on how to go about the imposed VAT on the sector, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) announced another increment in rates effective July 1, 2016.

The new rates apply to entry fees; motor vehicle permits; annual fee for commercial vehicles; camping fees; aircraft landing fee; crater service fee among others.

That happened ahead of Britain voting to leave the European Union; a move that affected the performance of the sterling pound against the US dollar. Decelerating pound against the US dollar makes it more expensive for Britons to travel including to Tanzania as many of the charges to foreigners are pegged in the dollar.

Tourism is Tanzania's leading foreign exchange earner which generated $2.2 billion in 2015 and the income has been increasing year-after-year.

It employs about 500,000 people although the World Bank said most of the jobs to Tanzanians especially those from communities around tourist sites are low-end.

However, the industry players are now skeptical about the future of Tanzania tourism as it would be affected by abrupt changes and lack of consistent and unpredictable policies. "I think the future of tourism will remain challenged and the government will stand to lose more, not only because of VAT but also due to its abrupt changes on sensitive sectors like tourism," says the chief executive officer of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato).

Most companies will either refund clients or absorb the cost themselves; which means because of unpredictability, the international travel agents will not be able to print their two-year brochures including destination Tanzania in their 'sales' because they can't tell which Budget the changes will happen in between," he says.

Right now TTB has clearly expressed that they are not going for market in World Travel Market 2016, and this is another blow.

Why all these last-minute changes? Not only tour operators in Tanzania but also we operators abroad publish the rates up to 18 months in advance -- so should we continue losing money on bookings or should we shred all marketing materials we printed for expensive money with lower rates in it?

If it gets hard or impossible to make long-term-planning and calculations we need to focus on other more reliable countries," posted Mr David Heidler, Denmark-based tour operator on facebook as he commented on Mr Akko's post.

The impact of the VAT is not only to destination Tanzania but also to the region which seeks to market East Africa as a single destination.

Ms Carmen Nibigira, coordinator of the Nairobi-based East African Tourism Platform (EATP), says regional tourism will be not only about products but also competitiveness and VAT is a huge factor when one wants to measure value for money.

The bottom line is EAC should have one harmonized vat system on tourism services. We cannot talk about harmonisation of our laws and regional integration when we have disparities in our law system and maturity of our product and services, she says.

If we are all serious about promoting East Africa as a competitive destination, policy makers need to understand that as a region our tax regimes need to look at the trends.

When the product and the service industry is being developed and in most cases needing some incentives - imposing taxes is not the best approach," she adds.

Tanzania tour operators now are seeking intervention from the head of state despite the fact that Prof Maghembe has insisted that the new tax is here to stay.

TANZANIA: Tanzania Tourist Board Develops Tanzania Tourism APP

MOUNT KILIMANJARO

The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) has embarked into an aggressive global e-marketing campaign for destination Tanzania by developing an Official Tanzania Tourism App.

The announcement was made through a press release issued by Devota Mdachi, Acting Managing Director Tanzania Tourist Board.

"The establishment of the Tanzania tourism official App namely, Tanzania Tourism; has come at a time when there are many efforts made by private companies' and individuals' tourism Apps, however, this one is developed by the Tanzania Tourist Board and will now serve as the Official Tanzania Tourism App." The release read.

The App was developed concurrently with the establishment of the destination online tourism portal which was officially launched by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania H.E Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete recently in Dar es Salaam.

The App contains detailed information on various tourist destinations in Tanzania. Among other things the App gives an overview of what Tanzania can offer as unique tourist destination in Africa, things to do, accommodation, and how to plan your trip and will later have provision for the potential visitors to book and make online payment just to mention a few.

The official App which is available at Google play store is accessible to Android mobile phones users worldwide and will soon be found in AppStore (iPhone).

This tourism promotional tool together with a 30 seconds commercial TV advert on destination Tanzania will be promoted in a number of popular social media channels and by CNN and BBC media news outlet which include TV and mobile sites in selected markets for six months effectively from October 2015.

This will add on to a number of marketing and promotional tools and techniques used by the Tanzania Tourist Board in promoting destination Tanzania globally. The introduction of this international tourism e-marketing campaign is expected to bring about more positive impact in the development of the tourism industry in the country.

The tourism industry in Tanzania has been recording a remarkable performance in recent years. For example, in 2005 the sector recorded 612,754 international tourist arrivals and rouse to 1,140,156 in 2014. As a result, tourism earnings increased from US $823 million recorded in 2005 to US $2 billion in 2014, this largely attributed to continued macroeconomic reforms and enhanced promotional efforts.