Recently, our team, with funding from the Rufford Foundation and INEC Ghana, conducted a nationwide assessment to determine the population and distribution of hippos in Ghana, assess threats to hippos, and take the necessary steps to mitigate these threats. During these surveys, a new population of hippos was discovered upstream of the Black Volta at Lawra. This population falls outside any protected or managed areas.

The long-term survival of this population remains uncertain as it faces severe reprisal attacks from communities. These communities do not have sufficient knowledge on how to co-exist harmoniously with hippos. For instance, hippos attacked a group of people who were harvesting oyster shells. In the process, they encroached on the space of a hippo that had recently given birth, eventually triggering the attack. One woman was amputated, while others sustained various levels of injuries. The incident sparked community-wide reprisal attacks on hippos, causing several to be trapped and killed.

The current conflicts remain a significant threat to both hippos and humans. The focus of this current project is to end the conflicts by improving community knowledge through conservation education and awareness creation. The project will use an approach that includes a portfolio of activities such as community engagement and education, anti-crop raiding techniques, and CREMA formation.

The project aims to set up CREMA committees in five main communities where the hippos are found and where the conflicts are most severe. These communities include Dikpe, Lawra, Babile, Mettor, and Suom. The communities lie along the Black Volta.

In the long term, the project will establish a community-managed ecotourism centre or hippo sanctuary to involve local communities in hippo management and conservation, and to leverage the ecotourism potential of hippos to bring direct benefits and incentives to communities for hippo management.