This Saturday is World Elephant Day. With that in mind we wanted to take you on a journey to one of Africa's largest protected areas: Selous Game Reserve.
The Selous Game Reserve represents one of the last great wildernesses in Africa. It's home to large numbers of elephants, cheetahs, crocodiles, hippos and wild dogs. It has enormous importance for the protection of Tanzania's natural heritage, which is why we're campaigning to protect it.
Selous officially became a World Heritage Site in 1982, mainly because of its elephant and black rhinoceros populations. It's the only site in southern Tanzania to have been awarded World Heritage status. The reserve was famous around the world for its large numbers of elephants and rhinos, which at one time were the largest in Africa. Just over 40 years ago, there were estimated to be over 110,000 elephants in the reserve.
It isn't just an important place for elephants: it is also vital to Tanzania's economy. the park currently rakes in over $6 million a year. The money it raises is distributed between the reserve, the national government, and more than 1.2 million people living in the surrounding area.
Did you know Tanzania's natural attractions draw over a million tourists each year.
In fact, the money generated by tourism to protected areas like Serengeti National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar generates 17% of the country's GDP.
There are concerns for Selous future. By 2014 the number of elephants had dropped to only 15,217 - a decrease of nearly 95,000 since the mid-1970s. That same year Selous was put on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to increased poaching and the resulting dramatic decline in wildlife.
Between 2010 and 2013, six elephants were killed in Selous every day.
But it's not all doom and gloom... things are getting better!
With your support we're funding new initiatives that are helping elephant and rhino populations increase.
At the frontline of the battle to save Selous' reserve rangers and village game scouts, whose role is to defend and safeguard the wildlife that lives in this landscape. Preventing elephant poaching and supporting rangers, and village game scouts are the first critical steps to improving Selous' future.
Worryingly, a new threat looms on the horizon. There is currently an increasing risk of industrial activities that would serious damage the future of Selous. Projects including oil exploration and the development of dam in the region jeopardises the future of this amazing landscape.
Our goals are to stop industrial scale activities and poaching of elephants in Selous. Together we can save Selous.
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