Elephant Aware October 2018 Operational Report

The month of October began with the celebration of World Habitat Day. All of us at Elephant Aware feel there is a particular need to highlight how important wild habitats and wild ecosystems are for many reasons but especially because they are depended upon for the survival of many wildlife and birdlife species. Habitat protection has always been a priority for our team at Elephant Aware and over the years we have contributed to the security of very crucial areas where we operate. It is however a fact that vast swathes of wild habitat are being lost to human development at a rapid rate and we must all work together to safeguard our global natural heritage.

In our area of operation people and wildlife, especially elephants, live in close proximity and therefore preventing potential Human-Elephant-Conflict is a priority in our efforts. Here the Elephant Aware rangers walk along a fence line to inform community members of elephants that are nearby.

We are now seeing a number of the elephant calves born at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year getting bigger already!

Norkinyei is one of a number of females in the area who has a young calf and we are delighted that these little ones are doing so well under the dedicated care of their mothers and families.

Despite the area being very dry, the rangers are continuing to monitor large herds of elephants which is all the more in important when water sources are limited and wildlife often are forced to venture close to human settlements in search of any. One of our main objectives is to prevent potentially dangerous encounters between people and species like elephants and to promote harmony all around. This is no easy task but many years of experience has proved vitally useful to our team and the good work of the project.

The 20th of October marked Mashujaa (Heroes) Day and we celebrated heroes around the world, both human and animal. In this case we made sure to highlight RANGERS who work daily to protect elephants and all wildlife, wild ecosystems and biodiversity. Rangers are known to be at the forefront of conservation as guardians of endangered wildlife especially but they are a great deal more fundamental to the overall endeavour of conservation, they are the thin green line safeguarding what remains of our planet’s irreplaceable natural world and everyday they need YOUR SUPPORT. We take our hats off to these dedicated rangers and all of our team at Elephant Aware and rangers everywhere committed to ensuring a future for species such as elephants. Thank you for your very important efforts and keep up the excellent work!

This is a special scene we sometimes come across on our patrols, napping elephants! Though it is not uncommon to see elephant calves laying down for a rest, adults doing the same thing is not seen quite as much. We were quietly observing Mbatiany, a bull elephant we are very familiar with, all morning on the 21st and then during the heat of the day he decided to have a siesta under a shady tree, perfectly aware of our presence though we kept a distance so as not to disturb him. His friend Osupat, another iconic bull well known to us over many years, watched over him from some nearby bush throughout his nap and almost an hour later Mbatiany awoke and rejoined Osupat. The two bulls are friends and we often see them together. Such endearing loyalty and affection between bull elephants is something we frequently see and it really shows how amazing they are as individuals and as a species. In our experience we find that people are quite often unaware of this behaviour in elephants and understandably assume there is something wrong with the elephant in question. Thankfully this is part of what elephants occasionally do as they, like humans, feel very sleepy at times and need a refreshing nap amid their busy daily activities!

Osupat and Mbatiany [above] are two real walking treasures of the Mara ecosystem and of Kenya. Mbatiany is over 40 years old and Osupat is approaching 50 putting them both in an age bracket that is vitally important to the gene pool of this elephant population. They are two bulls whom we have known for many years, we have watched them grow bigger and we have recorded noticeable changes in their appearance such as a broken tusk, additional ear notches and abscesses that are now healed but which were inflicted by humans in the past. Both of these handsome elephants are representative of why the work of our team at Elephant Aware is so essential and must continue to secure a future for precious gentle giants like Osupat and Mbatiany, who just by existing contribute to the tourism revenue and conservation benefits of the country.

We are all hoping for some rain to arrive soon and alleviate some of the pressures associated with the drought, which affects all of the area’s inhabitants. We are now three quarters way through the year and with all of the rangers and team at Elephant Aware covering an average of approximately 4000 kilometres (around 2,500 miles!)  of foot patrols per month, since the beginning of the year this would total to an estimated 40,000 kilometres or almost 25,000 miles of foot patrols! The project vehicles have equally covered a huge mileage of approximately 35,000 kilometres (around 22,000 miles) combined over the last 10 months! The project motorbike has also done a good share of groundwork averaging around 1000 kilometres each month. This gives some insight into how much work behind the scenes goes into Elephant Aware’s daily dedication to protect elephants and other wildlife in the Mara ecosystem and our conitnuous community outreach. This also shows how much work it takes in conservation in general. As always, we are tremendously grateful to our friends and supporters for helping Elephant Aware to continue in our essential conservation efforts.