368 Tanzanian farmers gave up slivers of land so elephants could walk again

For years, elephants in southern Tanzania had to cross farmland to travel between Nyerere National Park and the Udzungwa Mountains, trampling crops and landing in conflict with the people who live there. The answer turned out to be a strip of land just 200 meters wide and 14 kilometers long — the country's first officially protected wildlife corridor. The route was chosen with the villages themselves: 368 landowners gave up small pieces of their fields and were paid for them. Trail cameras then caught 529 elephants using the passage in 15 months, along with buffalo, otters, servals and more. Up to 1,000 elephants now move safely between the savanna and the mountain forests — wildlife and farmers finally out of each other's way.