In the lush, rolling savannah that connects northern Tanzania to Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, foraging elephants move back and forth across the sloping terrain in the shadow of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro.
The animals are so used to open-top 4x4s packed with tourists on the Kenyan side that they seem oblivious to the danger posed by tourists taking photos with their cell phones. But what the animals may not know is that just across the border in Tanzania, which has been as safe as the park for the past three decades, there are now people with guns instead of cameras.
Since September, five bull elephants from a herd near Amboseli have been shot in the Tanzanian part of the corridor, most likely by trophy hunters. At least two of them were so-called “super-tuskers,” with tusks so long they can sweep the ground.
There have been no such mass killings in the region since the mid-1990s, which conservationists say shows a tacit understanding between the two countries that banned hunting in the border region has broken down.
It also highlights the challenges the neighbouring countries face in reconciling their different approaches to managing their shared wildlife heritage: Kenya bans hunting and all wildlife revenue comes from tourism. While wildlife viewing safaris are a big part of Tanzania’s economy, the country also allows wealthy tourists to hunt big game.
“This is so heartbreaking for me,” said Cynthia Moss, an American zoologist who monitors the Amboseli herd of about 2,000 elephants and heads the Amboseli Elephant Trust. She said about 10 of the Amboseli superherd are still alive, and about 15 are left across Kenya. “I know these elephants. I know how trusting they are.”
The killings have sparked outrage in Kenya. In April, dozens of leading environmentalists Wrote an open letter A request was made to the Tanzanian government asking authorities to ban hunting within 25 miles of the Kenyan border. Tanzanian officials have remained silent; past government statements have defended hunting as bringing in millions of dollars in much-needed revenue.
Kadu Sebunya, director of the Kenya-based conservation group African Wildlife Foundation, said it was unlikely the elephant had been shot by poachers, noting there was no indication Tanzanian authorities were investigating.
“If poachers illegally kill elephants in the same location, they will be punished by law,” he said. Tanzanian wildlife officials and the Kenya Wildlife Service did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
An elephant massacre in Tanzania three decades ago sparked similar outrage and led the Tanzanian government to declare a moratorium on hunting.
In December 1994, three Amboseli elephants were killed near the town of Longido, about nine miles from the border, sparking an outcry in Kenya. In May 1995, under pressure from conservationists and scientists in Kenya and around the world, Tanzanian authorities announced a nine-month hunting ban in the area.
Tanzanian officials said the ban would be lifted once the two countries agreed on clear boundaries for the protected area during negotiations.
This is where things get murky. While old newspaper clippings confirm the ban was announced, it’s unclear whether negotiations took place, or whether the nine-month ban was lifted. There doesn’t appear to be evidence of any further action. But for whatever reason, hunters have been avoiding the area until recently.
Ms. Moss and other conservationists in Kenya say there had been an unwritten agreement between the two countries after the initial announcement, but that agreement appears to have broken down. Experts say they do not know why. Tanzania’s conservation laws have not changed.
Meanwhile, the Hunt family said the lack of clarity meant the agreement never existed.
Tanzania currently has about 60,000 elephants, down from 316,000 in 1978. In Kenya, about 35,000 remaining, down from about 160,000 About the same time.
As a keystone species, elephants not only shape the ecosystems of other wildlife—for example, creating waterholes with their tusks and spreading seeds with their dung—but their intelligence and complex social structures mean that violent deaths can Traumatizing and causing aggressive behavior in surviving elephants.
The larger, older male elephants targeted are considered essential for reproduction, spreading culture and maintaining social order. Male elephants mostly live outside of herds, and younger males sometimes stay with older elephants, who teach them knowledge, such as where to forage and where to go when the seasons change.
They also imitate behavior. One study found Lack of older bulls leads to more aggressive behavior in younger bulls.
According to Mr. Cebunia, the super tuskers even help young tuskers understand which ones to avoid. “They tell them, ‘When you see these tourist vehicles, they’re OK, but if you see other types of vehicles, that’s a problem,’ ” he said.
The first elephant lost in this recent wave of elephant disasters was Gilgil, 35, who was killed in September and was just such a large tusker.
Singling out male elephants like Gilgil, Moss said, “takes away their natural element of competition and survival, allowing younger, less-tested and perhaps less vigorous males to reproduce.”
On the other hand, sports groups claim that hunting, if managed properly, can have a positive impact on poor countries like Tanzania (whose per capita GDP is about $1,200). According to data from the World Bank(By comparison, the average price in Kenya is about $2,100.)
Zidane Janbeck and Quintin Whitehead run Kilombero North Safaris, which offers safaris for elephants, lions, leopards and other big game. They say the company shares a percentage of revenue with communities that own parts of the safari territory. (Kilombero says it paid Enduimet a total of $250,000 in 2023. Enduimet officials did not respond to requests for comment.)
Furthermore, human-elephant conflict is increasing in Tanzania, partly due to the country’s Rapid growth of rural population But hunters say farmers would be less likely to kill elephants that invade their fields if they knew they would receive a share of the hunting revenue.
They add that leaving well-managed wilderness areas for hunting means less land will be razed for agriculture.
Tanzania sets an annual quota for killing animals (50 elephants this year), and each hunting team must be supervised by officials.
Kilombero confirmed that it had killed an elephant in the area where Gilgil’s body was found and that its tusks had been removed, but denied that it had killed a super elephant.
“We assure you that we are conservationists and we are not targeting elephants,” Mr. Jambeck, who led the September safari, said in a video interview. “We are doing everything in compliance with Tanzanian regulations. We have the support of the government. We have the full support of the local community.”
In Longhido, locals seemed divided.
On a recent weekday, a group of men gathered over drinks to weigh their stance on trophy hunting. As long as it’s legal, it’s fine, one older man concluded. A soft-spoken young man countered that killing for fun is wrong.
But do these people benefit from the hunting revenue? “No,” they say in unison, shaking their heads. They say the authorities favour wildlife and sport hunters while abandoning vulnerable farmers.
“You have to take out loans to develop the farm, but these elephants destroy the farm and we get nothing,” Edward Masaki, a 53-year-old farmer, said in Swahili, frowning.
“Now I have people guarding my farm day and night,” he said. “What’s annoying is that when animals attack, you can’t kill them.”
He was referring to Tanzania’s nationwide wildlife ban to prevent poaching. Killing animals without a permit carries a stiff prison sentence: three to 30 years.
Meanwhile, conservationists across the border in Amboseli said they were anxiously waiting to hear about yet another elephant being killed, even as they scrambled to get a response from the Tanzanian government.
“All our pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” said Ms Moss. She said if the killing continued at the same rate, Amboseli’s ivory would be gone within two years and the ecosystem would see unprecedented negative changes.
“A hunted population becomes unnatural because humans are choosing who gets to pass on their genes and who doesn’t, who gets to live and who gets to die,” she said.
