How Many Elephants Are There in Botswana? (4-minute Video)

Erik Verreynne, based in Botswana, is a wildlife and livestock veterinarian with a master’s in wildlife management. He believes that wildlife management must include the coexistence between people and wildlife, and in Botswana, human-elephant conflict is a thorny issue.

Does Botswana have too many elephants?

To answer the question, you must examine the number of elephants and where they occur. What complicates the issue is that people think of Botswana as one big game reserve.

Elephants range over three main land uses: protected game reserves, wildlife management, and pastoral and farming areas.

The last category is where problems arise when elephants, people and livestock share the same landscape. If the risks outweigh the benefits of having elephants, then conflict arises.