Northern Ghana elephant survey

Northern Ghana shelters an important protected areas network. However, the current elephant range is restricted to a few protected areas. An aerial total count was carried out in Mole National Park and partially in Gbele Resource Reserve. The eastern and western corridors were surveyed by direct and indirect distance sampling counts. A minimum of 401 elephants were observed in Mole National Park while 15 elephants (coefficient of variation: 87%) were estimated by dung count in the extreme north of the western corridor. No elephant
<br />sign was observed in the other areas surveyed. Human activities were widely spread in all areas except Mole National Park, where permanent human activities, fields and villages were outside the boundaries. Because of high human impact, elephant migration is now essentially non-existent in both corridors. The recent records of elephant in Gbele Resource Reserve make a case for a third corridor between Mole National Park and Bontioli in Burkina Faso through Gbele Resource Reserve.