John is a young lad from a long line of farmers in the village of Mwikantsi, just outside of the west of Tarangire. He lives with his grandmother, and helps tend their family plot of land and look after their 6 cows.
They are subsistence farmers who live off the land. Unfortunately they live in an area that is in one of the hotspots for human-elephant conflict, where it is very common for elephants to leave the park and enter into village land, destroying farms and crops in the process. Communities suffer a lot from these incidences, and can lose over half of their crops to elephant destruction. John was unable to continue on with his studies as his family simply could onto afford the additional costs for him to finish high school. Both of his sisters are already married and have children, age 16 and 20. John was selected to join a wildlife management course this year. We are really excited to see how this course helps John change the course of his life, as well as become a conservation ambassador for his village.