From the agencies

The bee project helping to tackle elephant-human conflict in Kenya – in pictures

Loved by tourists, elephants are, however, often loathed by farmers. Elephant conservation has been a been a success in Tsavo in Kenya, with their number increasing by about 6,000 in the mid-1990s to almost 15,000 in 2021. The human population has also grown, encroaching on grazing and migration routes for the herds, with resulting clashes becoming the No 1 cause of elephant deaths. But a long-running project by the charity Save the Elephants offered an unlikely solution: deterring some of nature’s biggest animals with some of its smallest: African honeybees

A young bull elephant pauses under a tree during the afternoon heat at the Ngutuni wildlife conservancy on the outskirts of Voi, a town in Taita Taveta County

An assistant prepares bee smokers for Loise Kawira, a consultant beekeeper and trainer for the research and conservation organisation Save the Elephants

Mwanajuma Kibula, right, is helped by Kawira to use a smoker as they inspect hives

The top of a hive is removed during inspection of a bee colony

A family of mostly of female elephants and their young play next to a watering pond at the Ngutuni wildlife conservancy

William Mwanduka inspects hives housing colonies of African honeybees that have been integrated into a fence around an acre of his farm near Voi town

Charity Mwangome carries a stack of hay from her farmland where colonies of African honeybees are being used as a deterrent against elephants, as they can raid farms during planting seasons

A herd of elephants stop for a drink at a watering pond inside the Ngutuni wildlife conservancy in south-east Kenya

Bull elephants interact during an encounter at a watering pond

Hendrita Mwalada demonstrates how she integrates rags laced with a mixture of recycled engine-oil and pepper into the fencing around her farm to deter elephants

Mwalada shows the mixture to the camera

A young elephant calf follows its mother across a dirt road at the Ngutuni conservancy

Mwangome hoes her farmland next to one of the beehives

Kawira, right, and her assistant inspect the honey super frames of hives during a routine inspection of the bee colonies at Save the Elephants’ apiary in Sagalla village

A bull elephant crosses savannah to reach a watering pond

Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

A young bull elephant scares off a marabou stork as it approaches a watering pond

To help keep cool in the afternoon, a young bull elephant throws sludge on to its back using its trunk