Wild Survivors

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Promoting human-elephant coexistence in East Africa using sustainable initiatives and wildlife tech, powered by communities! Elephants are at the heart of this.

Join us to protect wildlife, people and ecosystems! Wild Survivors is a small organisation, with huge ambitions. Did you know, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes across Africa? If action against the ivory trade is not taken, and communities are not empowered as advocates for these magnificent creatures, they could be extinct by 2025. They are mercilessly hunted every day for their tusks, to feed the greed of others. Large ivory markets in China, Japan, and the United States fuel a constant demand for this horrific market. But there's a silent killer of these megafauna: Human-Elephant Conflict. We focus our work on creating harmony between wildlife and rural communities. Daily crop raids by migrating elephants is devastating for farming communities in Tanzania who rely solely on their crops for income. In retaliation to losing their crops, elephants are attacked, or killed, often through poisoning to prevent farm raids. Humans and elephants are dying when they don't need to. We have a working, low-tech solution to his historic problem: Bees! Elephants are scared of bees, and will avoid them at all costs. Working with villagers, we help to install beehive fences around the front perimeter of farms along roaming routes. Elephants will not cross the fence when they disturb it and realise bees are present. This is a method based on the successful work by Dr Lucy King, in Kenya. We have replicated Dr. King's technique, and with her expert guidance, are rolling the beehive fences out to communities in desperate need, along the border of Tarangire National Park. Farmers learn a new skill in beekeeping, which also provides a sustainable livelihood through the harvesting and sales of organic, raw honey. Education is paramount. Villagers can learn about the importance of elephants to their ecosystem and local economy with tourism. Elephants are saved from attack, with crucial migration corridors preserved, and farmer's crops protected. Bees pollinate crops and act as a natural deterrent to the elephants. It's a win-win solution! Find out more, and to sponsor a beehive, or a farmer's beekeeping training visit:
www.wildsurvivors.org
www.wildsurvivors.org/donate

21/09/2026

A few weeks ago, some of the new beekeeping women from our groups in Rukwa–Katavi packed up their honey, soaps, body creams and other products and travelled to Mbeya for Nane Nane, Tanzania’s annual agricultural exhibition.

For some of the group representatives, it was the first time they had travelled beyond their village and ward.

With Esther from our team and support from Mpimbwe District Council, they suddenly found themselves in the middle of this huge event, meeting farmers and producers from across the region, talking about what they make and showing their products to people they would never normally have the chance to meet.

Among the visitors to their stand were representatives from District government and TANAPA. And not long afterwards, Esther received a call.

A group of tourists was coming to Katavi National Park. Could the Situbwike women bring their products to the park gate to showcase their initiative?

They did, setting up a table with their honey soaps and natural wax skincare, and meeting visitors who had travelled to Katavi to see its wildlife.

We loved seeing this connection happen. These are women living in communities where sharing land with elephants is part of everyday life, now selling products connected to their beekeeping directly to people coming to experience those same wildlife landscapes.

There’s much more to build from here, but a very encouraging door has opened.

We’ve written more about the story on our website, follow the link in bio!

And if you’d like more stories like this from the field, you can also sign up there for Trunklines, our monthly newsletter. 🐘🐝

📷: Esther Simchimba (1-6), Fran Mahoney (7)

14/09/2026

Some very special news from Cape Town!

Wild Survivors Tanzania has been awarded $25,000 by Wilderness through the Wilderness Impact Challenge. This is an incredible investment in the women we work alongside in the Serengeti and the coexistence enterprise they are building.

Our team Fran Mahoney and John Masalu travelled to Cape Town as one of three finalists, alongside CLAWS Conservancy in Botswana and Ele-Collection in Zimbabwe. Wilderness gave us the rare opportunity not only to present our work, but to spend time together; learning from each other’s initiatives, exchanging experiences and exploring different approaches to building local coexistence economies alongside wildlife.

At the final, we shared the story of the women in the Serengeti who are protecting their farms from elephants while building new opportunities through beekeeping, regenerative farming and an incredible enterprise hub.

Huge congratulations to Ele Collection, who were announced as this year’s winners, and to CLAWS, our fellow finalists. We were incredibly grateful that Wilderness chose to recognise and invest in the work of all three organisations.

For our Serengeti women’s groups, this means another important step towards bringing their new Enterprise Hub fully to life: equipping the processing space, developing finance and marketing skills, and building supply chains for vegetables, honey and beeswax products into camps across the Serengeti.

Our enormous thanks to Wilderness Trust, the Wilderness team and everyone who welcomed us so warmly in Cape Town, and for believing in what the Serengeti women’s groups are building.

Above all, congratulations to the women whose work brought us there. This investment belongs to the enterprise they have built together.

19/08/2026

✨ We’re thrilled to share that our collaborative film, Can Bees Help Us Prosper Alongside Elephants?, has been named a finalist in the Impact Campaign category at the 2026 Jackson Wild media awards! 🐘🐝

It’s an incredible honour to see this project recognised alongside so many inspiring stories from around the world.

Developed through a wonderful collaboration between Humble Bee Films, IMPACTWILD & Wild Survivors, and commissioned by Sky UK Nature - their first impact campaign! Our Swahili-language film brings together community knowledge, field experience and storytelling, with filmmaker Michael Ndosi bringing the community coexistence vision alive!

This recognition belongs to so many people. A huge thank you to the NARI Women’s Group, the farmers and community members of Upper Kitete who so generously shared their knowledge and experiences; our Wild Survivors team; the incredible Humble Bee Films team , Esther O’Donnell, Elena Wong, Eloisa Noble , .tarr.ii ; IMPACTWILD Cherique Pohl, Sky Nature, and Michael Ndosi; among many others who helped bring this vision to life! We’re incredibly grateful to have created this together.

We’re also delighted to celebrate Humble Bee Films’ Wild Side of the Moon, which is a finalist in the Limited Series category! 🌙🐘

A huge congratulations to everyone involved, and to all of this year’s finalists! 🎉

Follow the link in bio to watch the film on YouTube! 🎥

12/08/2026

💡🐘 Every elephant population has a different story...

This World Elephant Day, we’re celebrating not only elephants, but what they’re teaching us!

As our network of community-managed beehive fences has extended across Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Rukwa–Katavi, we’re discovering that no two elephant populations behave in quite the same way. Their movements and decisions are shaped by their landscapes, past experiences, social learning and generations of shared wisdom.

By combining long-term ecological monitoring with local community knowledge, we’re learning how these differences can inform more effective, locally adapted coexistence strategies.

This year’s World Elephant Day highlights the importance of safe, connected wildlife corridors. By working alongside communities in priority conflict hotspots and critical dispersal areas, we’re helping keep these landscapes connected, so elephants can continue moving between ecosystems while reducing conflict with the people who share them.

📖 Discover what different elephant populations can teach us about behaviour and coexistence in our latest World Elephant Day blog!

🔗 Link in bio.
📷: Fran Mahoney, Wild Survivors

17/07/2026

We are beyond excited to share that Wild Survivors Tanzania has been selected as a Top 3 Finalist in the Wilderness Impact Challenge 2026! 💚🐘

Our Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment Hubs are now in the running to receive USD $100,000 to help scale community-owned conservation economies across the Serengeti.

We believe healthy ecosystems and resilient local economies grow together. The same care that nurtures healthy farms can also nurture healthy ecosystems. By strengthening women’s leadership and community-owned conservation economies, we’re helping create safer, fairer farming livelihoods while supporting communities as the long-term stewards of landscapes where both people and elephants can thrive.

This recognition belongs to every woman beekeeper, farmer, community partner, supporter and team member who has made this possible.

A huge thank you to Wilderness for recognising our work, we’re excited for what’s next! 💚

Read more about the impact challenge via the link in bio!

01/07/2026

🎉 We’re live! We’re so excited to announce that Wild Survivors has been selected to take part in the Ma Earth Community Funding Campaign, running July 1-21.

Together, we’re raising $5,000 to equip five women’s groups with beekeeping and permaculture resources, enterprise and financial literacy training, and support to develop high-quality honey, beeswax, and organic produce for sustainable local and tourism markets.

The women’s groups are actively preserving elephant corridors, strengthening biodiversity protection, and building resilient livelihoods through our Community-Led Coexistence Corridors project.

Here’s where your support becomes even more powerful. 💚

Ma Earth uses quadratic funding, meaning the campaign rewards the number of individual supporters, not simply the size of donations. Every contribution - whether it’s $10, $15, or more, helps unlock a greater share of matching funds from Ma Earth’s global pool of philanthropic donors.

In other words, every donor matters. A small gift can have an even bigger impact when more people join the campaign.

If you’ve followed our journey or believe in the power of communities to lead conservation, we’d be so grateful for your support. 💚

👉 Visit the link in our bio to donate and learn more.

And if you’re unable to donate today, sharing this campaign with your friends, family, and networks is one of the biggest ways you can help us unlock more funding.

Conservation is strongest when communities have the opportunity to lead it. Thank you for helping make that possible. 💚

15/06/2026

A weekend of learning, connection and collaboration at Youth4Nature Conference! 🌍🐘🐝

Masaka, John and Fran joined passionate organisations, young researchers and conservationists from across Tanzania to connect, exchange ideas and grow together through conversations on community conservation, human–wildlife conflict, storytelling, leadership and data.

A highlight was sharing our Coexistence in Action Framework, with Masaka presenting The Story of Bees and Elephants 🐝🐘 exploring the challenges, achievements and critical considerations behind beehive fences, the importance of community ownership and value chains, and insights into elephant behaviour captured through our remote camera monitoring.

We’re leaving the weekend feeling energised and optimistic, inspired by the passion and ideas driving the next generation of conservation leaders! 💚

12/05/2026

From the apiary to handmade products 🐝✨

This week, Esther delivered practical training with the Kizi women’s group in the Rukwa–Katavi Ecosystem, combining beekeeping skills with the production of value-added products including beeswax body butter, honey soap, and lip balms.

While the bee colonies are still establishing and not yet ready for honey harvests, the women are already building enterprise skills and creating products using locally sourced beeswax, opening up new income opportunities linked to their apiaries.

The body butter is especially popular, with women sharing how effective it is for dry skin and common skin ailments. The training also sparked strong interest from the Nkasi District Community Development Officer, who pledged support to help connect the group to exhibitions including Nane Nane and Saba Saba.

In landscapes where crop loss, climate pressures, and human-elephant conflict place huge strain on rural families, particularly women, these initiatives help strengthen resilience, diversify livelihoods, and create long-term incentives for protecting bees, biodiversity, and elephant landscapes.

Scroll to the end to join the Fipa celebrations! 🎉🔉
Women leading coexistence in action! 🌿🐘

27/04/2026

🌿 Career Opportunity! Wild Survivors Tanzania is looking for a proactive and grounded Programmes Manager to join our team!

In this role, you’ll help drive and coordinate our work across Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Rukwa–Katavi, supporting practical approaches to human–elephant coexistence, community livelihoods, and the local stewardship of elephant corridors.

As our Programmes Manager, you will:
🌱 Oversee programme delivery across multiple landscapes, ensuring activities are well coordinated and effectively implemented
🙏 Manage and guide field teams, providing clear direction and day-to-day oversight
✨ Coordinate work across sites, maintaining consistency while adapting to local contexts
✅ Anticipate and address operational challenges, enabling practical, field-based solutions
🧠 Contribute to programme development, bringing initiative, ideas, and field insight to strengthen how work evolves over time
⚡️ Demonstrate problem-solving leadership, identifying challenges early and driving practical improvements in delivery

If you’re a conservation or development professional in Tanzania with experience coordinating programmes and working with communities, we’d love to hear from you!

📍 Arusha-based + field travel
Submit your application by 18th May 2026

👉 Link in bio to apply

23/04/2026

Earth Day continues (every day)! 🌍

We’re so excited to launch our matched funding campaign with through the Earth Raise!

Over the 7 days, every donation is doubled.

This funding will mean we can increase our response to conflict hotspots across the Rukwa–Katavi Ecosystem in Tanzania: scaling community-led human–elephant coexistence, strengthening women’s beekeeping enterprises, and building sustainable value chains that support both people and wildlife.

It’s a simple but very powerful opportunity:
double your impact at a critical moment for this interconnected landscape.

🔗 Donate via link in bio! 🐝🐝🐝

Thank you to everyone supporting this campaign, and to those helping us build long-term, community-led solutions.

📷:

Address

Old Moshi
Arusha

Website

https://www.wildsurvivors.org/

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