Human-wildlife conflicts drive elephants from Pongola Game Reserve to Eswatini

The elephants at the Pongola Game Reserve in South Africa that were at the heart of a brewing conflict pitting local communities against the wildlife have chosen to flee to a much safer location in the neighboring country of Swaziland, now known as Eswatini.

People in neighboring communities were angered after a man was trampled by elephants from the reserve. More than a dozen elephants were reportedly killed in a series of revenge attacks.

However, this could be changing as the elephants are now moving to a much safer location in the neighboring country of Eswatini.

"(There's) been a bit of change in the current situation, where the elephants have now moved northwards across the Swaziland border or the Eswatini border and they are now found in the neighboring property called Royal Jozini Big 6 and they are settling down there. So, they are out of immediate threat so to speak. So from there we're hoping that they do naturally move around the dam and continue their lives at leisure like they were on the eastern banks of Pongola dam," said Dereck Milburn, the Southern African Project Director from the Aspinall Foundation.

The conflict between the elephants and the local community also stems from competition over resources provided by Lake Jozini, where people take their cattle to drink water.

This has often brought them into direct contact with the elephants as some animals are still remaining on the Eastern bank of the dam.

"There's still 11 elephants known to be in the conflict zone which is on the South African side of the dam and, we're not sure, there's some injured elephants at the moment that are still remaining behind, and there are some that obviously are now finding refuge in that area and we need to find a solution for them," said Grant Fowlds, director of Project Rhino.

At the moment the elephant herd in Eswatini is enjoying the relative safety of the new location, as well as the water resources available and the places to forage.

Conservation groups monitoring the elephants move are hoping that the remaining 11 elephants will also make their way across the border.