"We used to hate elephants a lot,” Kenyan farmer Charity Mwangome says, pausing from her work under the shade of a baobab tree. The bees humming in the background are part of the reason why her hatred has dimmed. The diminutive 58-year-old said rapacious elephants would often destroy months of work in her farmland that sits between two parts of Kenya’s world-renowned Tsavo National Park. Beloved by tourists - who contribute around 10 percent of Kenya’s GDP - the animals are loathed by most local farmers, who form the backbone of the nation’s economy.

Elephant conservation has been a roaring success: numbers in Tsavo rose from around 6,000 in the mid-1990s to almost 15,000 elephants in 2021, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). But the human population also expanded, encroaching on grazing and migration routes for the herds. Resulting clashes are becoming the number one cause of elephant deaths, says KWS. Refused compensation when she lost her crops, Mwangome admits she was mad with the conservationists.

But a long-running project by conservation organization Save the Elephants offered her an unlikely solution - deterring some of nature’s biggest animals with some of its smallest: African honeybees. Cheery yellow beehive fences now protect several local plots, including Mwangome’s. A nine-year study published last month found that elephants avoided farms with the ferocious bees 86 percent of the time during peak crop season. “The beehive fences came to our rescue,” said Mwangome.

An assistant prepares bee-smokers for Loise Kawira (not pictured), a Consultant Beekeeper and Trainer for research and conservation organisation, Save the Elephants near Voi town in Taita Taventa County.

Mwanajuma Kibula (right), 48, is assisted by Loise Kawira (left) during routine inspection of bee hives integrated into a fence around an acre of her farm as a deterrent to crop-raiding Elephants during the planting seasons at Sagalla village.

Hendrita Mwalada (67) shows the mixture of recycled engine-oil and pepper she uses to lace rags that she integrates into the fencing around her farm land.

A general view of a bee colony in one of the hives being inspected by Loise Kawira (not pictured).

Charity Mwangome (58) carries a stack of hay from her farmland.

Hendrita Mwalada (67) demonstrates how she integrates rags laced with a mixture of recycled engine-oil and pepper into the fencing around her farm land.

Mwanajuma Kibula (right), 48, is assisted by Loise Kawira (left) during routine inspection of bee hives integrated into a fence around an acre of her farm.

Loise Kawira carries out a routine inspection of the bee colonies.

A herd of Elephant comprising mostly of females and their young drink from a water pond at the Ngutuni Wildlife Conservancy on the outskirts of Voi town in Taita Taventa County.

Mwanajuma Kibula (48) wearing a safety suit prepares her bee-smoker outside her house near Voi town in Taita Taventa County before a routine inspection of bee hives.

A young bull Elephant throws sludge onto its back using it's trunk to cool himself at a watering pond at the Ngutuni Wildlife Conservancy on the outskirts of Voi town in Taita Taventa County.

A young bull Elephant pauses in the shade of a tree from the afternoon heat at the Ngutuni Wildlife Conservancy.

William Mwanduka (38) dons his safety suit as he prepares to inspect beehives housing colonies of African Honey Bees.

Charity Mwangome (58) ploughs her farm land using a hoe next to one of the beehives housing colonies of African Honey Bees.

A young bull Elephant runs off a Marabou stork as it approaches a watering pond for a drink at the Ngutuni Wildlife Conservancy.

Hacking nature

The deep humming of 70,000 bees is enough to make many flee, including a six-tonne elephant, but Loise Kawira calmly removes a tray in her apiary to demonstrate the intricate combs of wax and honey. Kawira, who joined Save the Elephants in 2021 as their consultant beekeeper, trains and monitors farmers in the delicate art. The project supports 49 farmers, whose plots are surrounded by 15 connected hives. Each is strung on greased wire a few meters off the ground, which protects them from badgers and insects, but also means they shake when disturbed by a hungry elephant.

“Once the elephants hear the sound of the bees and the smell, they run away,” Kawira told AFP. “It hacks the interaction between elephants and bees,” added Ewan Brennan, local project coordinator. It has been effective, but recent droughts, exacerbated by climate change, have raised challenges. “(In) the total heat, the dryness, bees have absconded,” said Kawira. It is also expensive - about 150,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,100) to install hives - well beyond the means of subsistence farmers, though the project organizers say it is still cheaper than electric fences.