The Executive Director of Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC), John Kasaona, is satisfied with the progress made by the Kunene Elephant Walk initiative.

He commended the initiative for its support of local communities in protecting elephants from causing damage to crop fields and other properties in the area.

IRDNC, in collaboration with the government and other key stakeholders, trained a group of more than fifty local young people in the Kunene region on a basic understanding of elephant behaviours and how to handle them.

Kasaona pointed out that this project is assisting local communities with various methods to keep marauding elephants away.

"We have now adapted a method that we believe is very applicable to our situation. We are using various methods to keep elephants away from community gardens. However, I must emphasise that this is a risky endeavour." He added that "the goal is to chase the elephants and divert them in a different direction. This is the purpose of the Kunene Elephant Walk: nothing more than protecting community livelihoods. By safeguarding community livelihoods, we are also indirectly protecting the elephants that might otherwise be killed due to their behaviour of trespassing into communities."

Kasaona said that it is difficult to maintain such a project financially given the vastness of the region and how gardens are set up in the area.

Kasaona urged conservancies to ensure that their game rangers receive proper training. 

"To effectively encourage the deployment of rangers to protect community gardens is essential, as the primary purpose of the conservancies is conservation. However, this aim is being undermined by existing livelihoods. Any development agency should collaborate with the community to address the issues arising from elephant damage to livelihoods. If these concerns are not addressed, the community may resort to shooting elephants, which is not the outcome we desire."