Why should a nation that is, in many areas, affected by hunger, poverty, high unemployment and loss of life, care about their environment, let alone their wildlife? Well, the Elephant Aware rangers, a group of Kenyans committed to saving their wildlife, have a few reasons in mind that they would like to remind their fellow […]
The African elephant population stood at approximately 1.3 million in 37 range states in 1979. By 1989 the population tiltered on 600,000, such a tremendous drop in numbers made the situation glaringly clear. At this time it was estimated that as many as 75,000 elephants were being slaughtered every year to feed the ivory demand […]
We cannot believe that it was a year ago today that Lenana was brutally murdered. During the time we spent caring for him, we grew to know him, to love him and to understand him. We, everyone in our team, really did consider him to be a close friend, someone we could not imagine our […]
An elephant’s last goodbye is something to never forget. Goodbyes are difficult, often painfully sad…and when elephants say goodbye it is no different if even more emotionally profound. Elephants have funerals and if you don’t believe us look at the photos. We watched as Kenyorra (the well known tuskless matriarch of Siana) led her family […]
Efforts in the field to curb poaching and protect elephants, as a species, needs the connected efforts of all relevant participants in this war for elephants. Anti-poaching, in many parts of Africa and carried out by respective projects and NGOs, is very effective, however there needs to be equal impact on all angles of the […]
I received a report from a herdsman this morning and he said that he saw three poachers running through the bush yesterday morning and one of them looked like they were carrying a spear and a gunia (burlap) sack. He saw them from a distance but they were clearly up to no good and in […]
Field based anti-poaching is the most direct way of protecting elephants in the wild. Rangers’ methods of ‘boots on the ground’ has proven effective during the 70-80s poaching pandemic and in today’s crisis. Projects who are diligently working in the field may not completely halt the poaching and certainly not alone, however there is no […]
Today my unit and I went on a very long foot patrol through some hilly areas and we came across a female hyaena who was relaxing in the early morning sun. She saw us but she was not bothered by our presence. We continued on towards the base of a very large hill and we […]
The genocide of elephants and rhinos is more than an immoral eradication of two iconic species at the hands of man, it is a jeopardy inflicted upon any remaining human morals. If the world stands by (some by choice and many under duress) and watches as these two species, like others before them, become extinct, […]
