100,000 Native Trees Restore Vital Elephant Corridor

A restored and legally protected wildlife corridor is reconnecting habitats used by around 1,000 elephants while reducing conflict with farming communities in Tanzania.

Local communities have helped restore the route by setting aside about 7% of land in three villages, while 368 landowners received compensation for farmland incorporated into the corridor.

The roughly 14-kilometre corridor reconnects Nyerere National Park and Magombera Nature Forest Reserve with Udzungwa Mountains National Park, restoring a route fragmented by decades of agricultural expansion. Conservation groups have planted 100,000 native trees from around 30 species, while fencing guides elephants away from farms and towards the protected passage. During 15 months of camera-trap monitoring, researchers recorded at least 1,440 mammals, including 529 elephants, and surveys identified 26 large and medium-sized mammal species using the corridor. The project combines forest restoration, wildlife monitoring, landowner compensation and community cooperation to reconnect savanna, woodland and rainforest habitats while allowing people and elephants to share the wider landscape more safely.