Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA Namibia)

In Namibia's arid northwest, free-roaming desert elephants share fragile territory and scarce water sources with subsistence farming communities. Founded in 2003, Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA) runs hands-on volunteer expeditions that bridge the gap between people and elephants, reducing human-wildlife conflict so both can thrive side by side.

Volunteers spend their first week building sturdy rock-and-cement protection walls around communal water tanks, windpumps and solar installations to keep elephants from damaging village supplies. The second week is spent on patrol in open 4x4s and on foot, tracking the herds along dry ephemeral riverbeds, compiling identification data and monitoring newborn calves.