OnTap Magazine

That first sip of cold Kingfisher was a marvellous one as we met up with the entire team behind Okavango Craft Brewery at the remote and beautiful headquarters of Ecoexist. Ecoexist is an NGO dedicated to reducing human-elephant conflict in northern Botswana. It is also the birthplace of Okavango Craft Brewery. Founded by Anna Songhurst and Graham McCulloch, Ecoexist focuses on creating a harmonious existence between elephants and humans – in a region that is home to around 15,000 of each. One of their projects involves working with local farmers to encourage elephant-friendly farming methods: out with the beating of drums and shooting of guns at pachyderms that wander too close, and in with gentler methods, starting with simply avoiding planting crops in the timeworn “elephant corridors” that Anna identified in her celebrated PhD. After a night in the camp, lulled to sleep by the panicked mooing of a herd of cows that, as we learned later, were freaked out by a lion in their midst, we set off to meet some of the Ecoexist farmers. First, the Simbas, who have farmed in this dry, sandy and unforgiving corner since 1981. They were one of the first farms in the region to test out Ecoexist’s elephant-friendly farming methods and have noticed a reduction in pachyderm visits. They’ve also noticed improvements in their yield, not least because they used to harvest early in order to get the crops out of the ground before the elephants passed by on their northern migration. The Simbas plant sorghum, maize and beans, but like most farmers in the region, their main crop is one which thrives in poor soil and harsh climates: millet. The Ecoexist team knew that the key to convincing local farmers to adopt practices that would benefit both their livelihoods and the wellbeing of the elephants lay in millet, and a plan began to take shape. “It’s a lot of extra work to instigate the elephant-aware farming practices,” says Graham. “So there has to be an incentive. We buy the millet from our farmers at an above-market price as a way to encourage them to adopt our recommended measures.” ELEPHANT-FRIENDLY FARMING WORLD OF BEER Mokoro ride to the Ecoexist camp The only way to see the Delta Birds take flight over the Delta Visiting the Simba family farm Typical architecture of the region ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2023 | 23