Transboundary Range

Between latitudes 16 - 22º South the overall range for elephants now extends from Skeleton Coast in the west of Namibia to the mid-Zambezi Valley in eastern Zimbabwe (and, indeed, beyond it into Mozambique) (Figure 10). Within this range are areas of elephant concentration (DG 2004) reaching densities in excess of 1 elephant/km2 in many places.

This area is subject to various land tenure categories including State Protected Wildlife Areas, Forest Reserves, communal land, private land, community based and private land conservation areas (Figure 10). For the most part, the elephant range is secure under the systems of wildlife-based land use which are now in place over large areas of the region. This bodes well for the expansion of elephant populations, increase of elephant genetic diversity and the development of transfrontier conservation areas.

The most vulnerable part of this otherwise encouraging scenario is in north-eastern Botswana (Figure 10). The narrowest and most constricted part of the regional elephant range over two thousand kilometres from east to west is the isthmus in the Caprivi Strip in the vicinity of Mahango National Park. The presence of cattle populations in the north-eastern corner of Botswana is a conflicting and lower-valued land use which threatens the larger development of the wildlife potential of an entire region. The bottlenecks caused by inappropriately positioned veterinary control fences not only result in local destruction of biological diversity through elephant concentrations but also hamper the positive aspects of restoring the original fauna of the region through wildlife dispersal.

Kruger (1984) referred to the Caprivi as an "outrage to geography and all common sense" and Fisch (1999) remarks: "As it is, this unnatural appendage linked to the rest of Namibian territory by a handle only twenty miles wide, will continue to cause a great deal of administrative and technical difficulties for the government in Windhoek." A hundred years after its creation, the geography of the Caprivi remains problematic. Visions of a 'Four Corners' Trans-Frontier Conservation Area will remain unfulfilled until neighbouring countries cooperate to create the conditions for compatible and high valued land uses in this part of the region.

Regional Distribution in Southern Africa

The distribution map of elephants in southern Africa is based on AfrESG (2002) but has been updated in some parts where more recent information has been available (Figure 7). Points to note about this distribution are

• Despite the fact that the southern African elephant populations are the most intensively surveyed on the continent; there are still large areas in the region where little is known about the present range of elephant - particularly in Angola and Mozambique.
• The elephant range is not a static feature. Elephant populations are expanding rapidly and re-occupying areas from which they have been absent for many years. In the centre of the region this is fuelled by the huge Botswana and north-western Zimbabwe population which appears to be spreading into Namibia, Angola and Zambia. Over 1,000 elephants have recently moved into the Chobe-Zambezi area of the eastern Caprivi (G. Owen-Smith, pers.comm. August 2004) - an area where they have not be seen since the 1960s. Elephant numbers are also increasing in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia and dispersal is taking place into parts of Mozambique where elephant have been absent since the late 1970s.
• Because of this dynamic situation, it needs to be emphasized that any map of the elephant distribution is no more than a snapshot in time. It is likely to be out of date within a year and attempts to map with great accuracy may be a waste of time.

Distribution across Africa

The distribution of elephant in Africa is patchy (Figure 6). In West Africa, elephant exist in small relict populations isolated from each other. In Eastern Africa, elephant range is rapidly being reduced to the questionable havens provided by State protected conservation areas. In Central Africa, elephants survive in the fastnesses of tropical forests in Gabon and the Congo but peripheral savanna populations (particularly in the Central African Republic) are following the course of the West Africa populations - less because their habitats have been usurped by humans and more because of uncontrolled illegal hunting. The main southern African elephant populations are in a belt extending across the northern part of the region through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The potential exists, through the development of transfrontier conservation areas, for these subpopulations to form a single contiguous population across the continent (Figure 7).