海角大神

Not long ago, Santo Okello鈥檚 sesame garden was under siege.

The intruders聽were聽familiar聽to him:聽four elephants,聽lumbering toward his crops聽at dusk聽in search of a聽tasty聽snack.聽聽

Until a few years ago, a visit from the elephants, who live in the nearby Murchison Falls National Park, would have meant certain death for Mr. Okello鈥檚 carefully tended stalks, his main source of income.

But this time, the pachyderms聽had barely reached the garden鈥檚 perimeter when they abruptly turned and fled, stomping their feet and swinging their trunks as they retreated into the scrubland.聽聽

They had been scared off by Mr. Okello鈥檚 unusual security system.聽

Bees.聽Sixty buzzing, swarming hives of them, placed strategically around the outside of his farm聽like a kind of living fence.聽

鈥淚n the past, I would have sucked it up and [started over] from scratch鈥� growing聽a new聽sesame聽crop, he says. But now,聽鈥渂ees protect my garden.鈥澛�

Elephants began raiding farms and invading villages in this part of聽northern聽Uganda in聽the early 2000s, as communities displaced by聽decades of fighting between the government and a guerilla group known as the Lord鈥檚 Resistance Army returned to areas they had abandoned years before.聽There, they聽encountered herds of elephants who had been freely roaming the聽region, and who felt little remorse at helping themselves to the carefully tended fruits and vegetables grown by their new human neighbors.聽

It was a problem that demanded聽creative intervention.聽When elephants raided farms, they destroyed livelihoods, hobbling communities already impoverished by the war. But when communities聽attacked the elephants聽in response,聽they threatened聽the ecological balance in northern Uganda, and also聽the country鈥檚聽single largest source of foreign dollars: tourism. Visitors flocked to parks like Murchison Falls to see the gentle giants, whose population was on the rise thanks to聽reductions in poaching in the area.聽聽

鈥淥ver the years, the number of animals,聽which has been on the increase,聽has led into the fight for resources with聽the also聽increasing human population,鈥� says Bashir Hangi, a spokesperson for the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

A surprising solution

Over the years, government and聽frustrated聽local communities have tested a wide variety of solutions, from repelling elephants with the pungent smell of to simply building that keep people on one side, and elephants on the other.聽

In Nwoya,聽where Mr. Okello tends his sesame garden,聽farmers had tried to scare the elephants away聽with聽chilis,聽as well as聽other聽low-tech聽methods聽like聽banging together metal pots and setting small fires near their gardens.聽

But these聽strategies 鈥渨eren鈥檛聽effective enough,鈥� says聽John Bosco Okullu, a local leader.聽鈥淭hey were also tiresome because one had to monitor their garden聽all the time鈥� in order to keep the elephants at bay.

In 2009, Mr. Okullu was part of a group of farmers and local leaders chosen by the International Fund for Animal Welfare to travel to Tsavo East National Park in Kenya to study how communities there were using bees to protect their farms from elephants.聽

They came back armed with a surprising new fact. Elephants聽are聽scared of bees. Really, really聽scared.聽They fear being stung in the trunk, eyes, and mouth so intensely that聽they聽 even from the recorded sound of bees.

To protect a garden, the team learned to hang hives聽between two trees or sturdy poles, and then string together聽the hives with wire. Every time an elephant touched the wire, it shook the hives, alerting the bees of their visitor.聽In a study conducted by researchers in Kenya,聽these聽鈥渉ive fences鈥� stopped聽about聽 of marauding elephants.聽

But when Mr. Okullu鈥檚 group introduced the model they had studied in Kenya to local farmers in Uganda, they met with some resistance.聽The pesticides used locally, for instance, are toxic to bees,聽meaning that farmers with hive fences have to find other ways to protect their crops from hungry insects.

Hives can also be expensive. Local bee hives, made from palm tree stems or tree bark, cost between $4 and $8 each. That puts them out of the reach of many farmers in the area, who often live on $1 or less per day.聽

And then, of course, there is the matter of the bees themselves.聽Managing bee hives is time-consuming. Many farmers spend an hour or more a day on maintenance, since hives聽have to be kept clear of termites, ants, and spiders, and the grasses nearby kept short to keep snakes at bay. And the bees themselves can be aggressive, particularly during the afternoon when they are hard at work producing honey.

鈥楢n army that protects you鈥�

Mr. Okello heard about the hive fences on the radio in 2013, when he was near his wits end searching for a solution to his elephant problem. He visited聽the聽Koch Goma Apiculture聽Development Association, a local umbrella body for farmers, who run聽two-month聽trainings for farmers interested in cultivating bee hives.聽

In total, about 250 farmers聽in northern Uganda聽have been trained by Koch Goma聽in using bees to stop elephant attacks.聽And for most, the bees have also become an additional source of income, from honey they harvest from their hives.聽

But the聽method has its limits too. The number of both elephants and people is on the rise here.聽In the 1970s and 鈥�80s, when poaching was at its height, Uganda had only about 700 wild elephants. Today, it has about 5,000, including 1,330 in Murchison Falls, near Nwoya, according to a . Meanwhile, Uganda has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, according to .

That continues to bring more and more contact between people and elephants 鈥� and more and more frustration as well.聽

鈥淸We] never begged for food in the past or went to work on other people鈥檚 farms as is the case today,鈥� said Rwot David Onen聽Acana II in 2016. Now people 鈥� to support their children in schools or provide family needs since farming as a source of income has been affected by elephants,鈥� explained聽the paramount chief of the聽Acholi,聽one of聽northern Uganda鈥檚 largest ethnic groups. 鈥淲e are aware that it is against the law to kill those elephants, but [at least] if we are victimized and prosecuted, we will have saved ourselves from hunger.鈥�

The聽Wildlife聽Authority says聽such communities should consider digging trenches to give extra protection to their gardens, adding that the government is planning to erect聽more聽electric fences in areas prone to elephant raids.

Meanwhile, that has been winding its way through Parliament since 2017 to compensate farmers for crop damage caused by wild animals聽passed earlier this month.聽It is now awaiting聽the signature of聽President Yoweri Museveni.聽

But for now, people like Mr. Okello rely聽mostly聽on their bees.聽

On a recent morning, he fed strands of chopped lemon grass into one of his hives 鈥� a scent known to attract bees.聽Nearby, a small swarm of bees buzzed聽past. Mr. Okello looked聽up, hopeful that they would聽stop.聽聽

鈥淚f they join your [hives],鈥� he says, 鈥渢hen you have an army that protects you.鈥�