Selous Game Reserve Indian Ocean elephant corridors: A perspective from Kilwa District

Kilwa District, southeastern Tanzania, an area of 13,958 km 2 , is endowed with an abundance and diversity of wildlife species including elephants (Loxodonta africana africana).The district has a human population growth rate of 1.9% and 171,850 residents (82,817 men and 89,033 women) living in 36,185 households, the average size of which is 4.7 (NBS, 2002).The district is sparsely populated by people (12 humans inhabitants/km 2 ) relative to other parts of Tanzania, thus leaving much of the area for wildlife habitation.Some of the animals are resident to many of the patchy and isolated habitats in Kilwa District, while others use parts of Kilwa land seasonally.Areas along the coast, notably the Pande-Mgongo-Matipani-Mkondaji belt, have many resident wildlife species found elsewhere in Tanzania.Other areas with abundant wildlife are Kilwa North, Central and South Open Areas.'Open Areas' (1974 Wildlife Act) were regarded as one of the protected area categories where wildlife was found outside core protected areas and where hunting of wildlife was prohibited without authorization.Some of these Open Areas are today Wildlife Management Areas , and all Open Areas have been designated as tourist hunting concession blocks, with the exception of Mto Nyange, the only Game Controlled Area in Kilwa District (and also the name of a river).Elephants were largely extirpated along the Tanzanian coast in the 19th century at the height of the ivory and slave trades.Today, the only area along the Tanzanian coast inhabited by resident elephants is Saadani National Park, north of Dar es Salaam.Observations and several encounters of elephant groups crossing the Dar es Salaam-Lindi main road between 2006 and September 2008 stirred curiosity about the extent of movement of these elephants, one of which was knocked down by a vehicle in 2007 between Nangurukuru and Mavuji stretch.Consequently, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organized a 20-day survey and followed elephant tracks from the eastern zones of Selous Game Reserve (GR) to the coast of the Indian Ocean in Kilwa District.