Wilderness Safaris, in partnership with African Parks, the Rwandan Development Board (RDB) and Wilderness Wildlife Trust (WWT), is facilitating the first elephant study in Akagera National Park.

The park is located in eastern Rwanda along the border with Tanzania.

It is an area of woodland, swamps, low mountains and savannah.

The varied terrain shelters wildlife including zebras, giraffes, elephants, lions and hundreds of bird species, such as the rare shoebill stork.

In the southern part of the park, vast Lake Ihema is home to hippos and crocodiles.

The research will provide valuable information about the Park's current elephant population and enhance its conservation.

Conducted by University of Australia Zoology graduate Dr Tammie Matson, who has been studying African elephants in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Namibia since 2005, the study aims to understand and quantify the population of elephants in Akagera.

The data collected will be analysed and entered into an online Elephant Database ID, that can be accessed by park management and Wilderness Safaris Magashi guides.

The database already has the details of 40 of the approximate 100 elephants within the Park.

Elephants will be identified through features such as their ears, tails, tusks and other noteworthy marks, and this information will help build a record of elephant stats that can be used to implement more informed elephant conservation.

Useful links

www.africanparks.org/the-parks/akagera