Among other conservation priorities, the Karingani Game Reserve is undertaking the installation of a satellite tracking system to monitor and record spatial movements of at least 10 breeding herds and 15 mature bull African elephants over time. The improved awareness of elephant ranges, movement and vegetation impact will facilitate sustainable management and implementation of the re-wilding and restoration of the Karingani landscape.
Satellite tracking collars allow for critical information on elephant movement, migration, and habitat use to be collected. This enables researchers and reserve management to gain knowledge into how elephants utilize the landscape and provide insight into how they can better preserve the ecosystem around its largest inhabitants’ use. Furthermore, data collected on the immigration, recruitment, and redistribution of large herbivores, in particular elephants, is critical to landscape restoration projects such as Karingani.
In early 2020, two elephants, a bull and a cow were chosen from a predetermined section of Karingani Game Reserve. While the valuable data from the two collared elephants provides significant insight into elephant movements within the south and eastern sectors of Karingani, the sheer size of the 145,000 ha reserve allows for it to be home to many unique breeding herds of elephants and roaming bachelors. Collaring more elephants from other sections in the reserve will further add to this critical data collection and awareness of elephant movement patterns over the ever-changing seasons at Karingani.