The Tuareg nomads of Mali have a saying: “We live with the elephants, and the elephants live with us.” The Dogon, Fulani, and Tuareg peoples share land with the last remaining herds of desert elephants. For hundreds of years, the elephants have followed a 300-mile circular path in Mali, West Africa, the longest migration route of any elephant in the world. Once a year, they must pass through the Elephants’ Doorway in the cliffs on their way to find water. But what happens when that doorway is blocked? The local people are determined to continue their peaceful coexistence with the elephants, and they communicate with each other—over the radio and under the palaver tree—to solve these kinds of problems. Small changes can make a big difference!

Helen Cowcher shows that, when everyone works together, it’s possible to preserve the delicate balance of life in the desert and protect these magnificent desert elephants.

Advance Praise for Desert Elephants:
“Desert Elephants is a valuable and urgent book. It is a seminal contribution that will help save this unique elephant population”
–Dr. Mike Chase, founder & director of Elephants Without Borders

“Desert Elephants presents this potentially complicated ecological case study in the most simple and delightful terms. It’s a pleasure to experience this book–we will certainly use it in our work.”
–Vance G. Martin, president of The WILD Foundation

“Helen Cowcher captures the great beauty, harmony, and wisdom embodied in the extraordinary coexistence of elephants and people.”
–Joyce Poole, Ph.D., Director of ElephantVoices

>>Buy Helen Cowcher’s Desert Elephants book

>>Visit our Publications and Gear store

>>Learn more about the Mali Elephant Project

Lake Banzena in the elephant reserve is the only place with water that elephants can access at the end of the dry season. However human activity is threatening to drive the elephants away, as it has already done in the Niger Delta and Lake Gossi. The difference is that this time they would have nowhere else to go.

Since a well was constructed next to Banzena in 2000, people have begun to settle  in the area.

At the same time numbers of migratory livestock herds have mushroomed, and commercial interests are cutting wood to sell in the river towns.

Competition for resources has intensified with the result that the lake dried prematurely in 2009 and 2010, requiring the costly provision of water as an emergency measure. It was clear that a long term solution was required if the elephants were to survive.

We visited every household and all the herdsmen, to ascertain their perceptions, and to engage their help in devising a plan to resolve the situation. This plan had to have the buy-in of all members in the community and respect intra-community relationships. The findings were fascinating — and you can read the full report here> For example, we discovered that over 50% of the human population around the lake suffers badly from water-borne disease; many fear the concentration of elephants at the end of the dry season; while 96% of the cattle using the lake belong to “prestige herds” owned by affluent urban Malians.

The result has been their suggestion to relocate to an area outside the elephant range with abundant pasture (see photo VIII), if three water-points could be provided. We have managed to raise the money for these from the US Embassy and the Malian Government, and are using traditional systems of resource management.

These involve a management committee to determine the rules of use, brigades of young men who patrol to detect infringements, and a council of elders who determine punishment for transgressors.

The first action of the management committee was to designate an area of 40,000 hectares as a pastoral reserve. Adjacent communes thought that this was such a good idea that they spontaneously followed suit to designate contiguous areas and make a total of 923,800 hectares.

Protected by fire-breaks, this area is the only part of the northern Gourma not to lose its pasture in bush fires this year.

The power-point presentation below shows a bit more information about the community engagement process.

This power-point shows more information about the fire-breaks and how they were made…

This system places the resources of the area under the control of the local community, preventing pasture loss through bush fire, and the over-exploitation of water, pasture and forest products by commercial interests from elsewhere. It does not prevent the use of resources by transhumant herds, but allows local communities to limit use and charge for access to them.

Another benefit of this approach has been the integration of the government forestry service into the process. They are, for example, able to help in the technicalities of fire-break construction, and work in collaboration with the brigades, rather than being at odds with the population, as is often the case.

As I was reading through the excellent review in the New York Review of Books, by John Terborgh of Caroline Fraser’s “Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution”, I was gratified to find several points that resonated strongly with our experience in Mali.

During my last visit, somebody remarked that it must be wonderful to study the ecology of the elephants, but it set me thinking that while that was the focus of the first phase of the project, the work since then has been all about managing people -individuals and collections of them – and that evolutionary psychology was proving of more use than ecology!

John Terborgh provides a wonderful summary of the breakthroughs in conservation science made over the last few decades , with their main conclusion that we need large areas of wild nature connected to each other. He then broaches the big, thorny question of how we do that in an over-crowded, resource-hungry world.

His first observation is that nowadays, conservation is not so much about managing wildlife as it is about managing people.

In Mali, once we had established the science of what the elephants need and where, it was clear that the main threat was the increasing human impact that prevented their access to resources they need. There are many facets to that impact and underlying causes and so to start with we just observed. This enabled us to identify the groups of people whose actions impact elephant lives, and the key organizations with whom we could work to effect change. One very important group was the local communities.

Terborgh also points out we need to know about the psychology, aspirations and circumstances of the local residents as billions have been wasted as a result of not taking these into account.

Without this any activity is doomed to ultimately fail, and so we met with the residents in their customary ways, to exchange information. We showed them what we had discovered through analyzing the whole migration and asked them for their experiences and knowledge. We then presented the problem and asked how they thought it should be solved, and we found that much of the time we were in agreement.

The second fundamental point is the need for a combination, a balance of top-down “planning” approaches with bottom-up community engagement. Neither approach will be sufficient in itself.

This need for addressing ultimate causes from several directions is why we are involved with a range of activities, with a spectrum of stakeholders and implicated parties, as summarized by the concept diagram.

Further, and most crucially, he points out that achieving the balance “requires a sophisticated knowledge of the politics at both levels, something that is rarely achieved by short-term projects financed by foreigners”

This is why we place so much emphasis on working closely with Malian partners who understand the local political situation, even though it might appear to require more time and effort.

Good news — the unique desert elephants of Mali are featured in National Geographic Channel’s upcoming Great Migrations series. WILD has been working for 8 years to protect these amazing elephants and promote the well-being of the communities near the migration route, so we are very excited that they are finally receiving wide-spread public, international attention they deserve.

Photo (c) Carlton Ward

Amazing footage of Mali’s 500 elephant herd, along with Botswana zebras and wildebeest crossing the croc-filled Mara River between Kenya and Tanzania, red crabs on Christmas Island, flying foxes in Australia, army ants in Costa Rica, and Pacific great white sharks, reveals the dangerous journeys wild animals undertake in their ancient treks for food, water and reproduction.

Photo (c) Carlton Ward

The Mali segment focuses on the daunting, hot and dry climate of the arid Saheel and the elephants’ survival tactic of migrating south to find water and forage. Led by the family matriarchs, the elephants join forces just before a key danger point — the Porte des Elephants an opening in the mountains where their funneled passage is vulnerable. The program offers an exciting opportunity for TV-watchers worldwide to learn about the desert elephants of Mali – we’re pleased that these elephants are getting a much deserved (and needed!) share of the limelight!

The Great Migrations series reveals new scientific insight, previously undocumented behaviors and the most-in depth visual record of a diverse range of animal migrations. Seven hours in total, Great Migrations premieres on 7 November, 2010 in 330 million homes, 166 countries and 34 languages, with the Mali elephants providing the key thread for one of the four core programmes – entitled “Feast or Famine” – that chronicle epic animal migration. The film series concludes with the Mali elephants feature on 14 November. Our science and research partner since 2002, Save the Elephants, provided technical and research support using WILD vehicles and other logistics, as documented in one of the additional hours on the “Science of Great Migrations.”

“Great Migrations has thus far been the most ambitious undertaking in National Geographic Channel history,” Steve Burns, EVP, Content, National Geographic Channel. One incredible scene captured is of the Mali elephants smelling and fondling the desiccated parts of a calf lost on the journey in an “elephant funeral.” Another heartening scene is of the elephants reaching Lake Banzena – a key site of WILD’s work with local villages to share this resource – where they enjoy wallowing in the muddy shallows and quenching their long thirst.

The focus on migration is timely as natural habitat becomes increasingly degraded, fragmented and destroyed. Animals migrate when it is difficult to find all they need, all year round, in one place. Migrations therefore allow more individuals to survive than if they were unable to move.

For many animals, such as the Mali elephants, the population would not be able to survive at all if prevented from migrating. But the rigor of the path and predators along the way render the newly born young particularly vulnerable, as the film series emphasizes. The severity of the threats to these wonders of nature means that conservation action is urgently needed.

Nature Needs Half, our vision to protect at least half of the planet, land and water in an interconnected way, addresses such critical threats by compelling people to envision landscape-scale approaches to conservation. It is not enough to protect pockets of natural habitat. Many species — the Mali elephants included — need large, diverse, and connected landscapes in order to survive and also adapt as climatic shifts change natural resource availability. Great Migrations highlights these issues in an easy to understand and compelling way.

In Mali, WILD’s work with the communities living along the Mali elephants’ migration route involves raising awareness as to the importance of these elephants, and empowering them to find local solutions to man-made problems the elephants encounter as they traverse habitat areas shared with people and livestock. Contributions to this project support these important initiatives that enable humans and elephants to live together so that the elephants are able to find what they need to survive throughout the year. Support the Mali elephants >

The 8th – 10th September - Field visit to the sites selected for relocation by the community consultation process: the team arrives.

The first step to find a solution to the problem of Lake Banzena was to survey all stakeholders to obtain their views and ideas and devise a plan that all could agree with. The solution was to move the people out of the elephant reserve and provide clean water for them in areas with good pasture but currently no water. This would leave Lake Banzena for the elephants.

Recording site GPS co-ordinates

The first step in the implementation of the relocation plan was to identify suitable sites for relocation. These had to be outside the elephant range and at least 35km from Banzena. Several possibilities were identified as part of the community engagement process, and visited for verification by a team of stakeholder representatives.

Community representatives, elected representatives, government administration and technical services inspect the sites.

These are areas of excellent pasture, but are vulnerable to bush fires. The community engagement process will involve organizing the construction of fire-breaks, and drawing up rules to reduce fire risk as soon as possible.

A bustard spotted in the area.

There are several relict Acacia forests in the area which will be protected and rehabilitated through the local conventions drawn up as a part of the relocation process.

25th September - A meeting of local community representatives with the government authorities at which the communities are confirming their willingness to evacuate Banzena and leave it for the elephants.

26th – 27th September – representatives of the communities most affected by the relocation.

An article the 8 Oct 2006 New York Times Magazine discusses elephant mourning in greater detail, “When an elephant dies, its family members engage in intense mourning and burial rituals, conducting weeklong vigils over the body, carefully covering it with earth and brush, revisiting the bones for years afterward, caressing the bones with their trunks, often taking turns rubbing their trunks along the teeth of a skull’s lower jaw, the way living elephants do in greeting.”

We are breathing a sigh of relief as it has been raining since the beginning of June and so far the rains are good! This year was very tough for the elephants. Usually they rely on the lake of Banzena for water at this time of year, but this year it was crowded with huge numbers of cattle and reduced to a muddy puddle. The cattle returned to the river Niger where water is plentiful, but the journey was too far for the elephants who needed water quickly and they cannot use water from the wells along the way.

And so the elephants dispersed to find water where they could. One such place, the Teze waterhole and forest, sheltered 41 of them through this tough period, but it was almost not the case. A few months ago a group of farmers from the south wanted to cut down the forest to make irrigated gardens, but the local community was able to prevent this through an official agreement (or convention), facilitated by WILD. This convention sets rules of use of land, pasture, water and forest, and designates the whole of the Teze forest and waterhole for elephant use. The community wanted this because they noticed that elephants used it a great deal and would sometimes give birth there.

As a result of the community’s work, 41 elephants found refuge. At the same time the protective cover of vegetation remained intact preventing soil and water loss, protecting useful species (e.g. food, medicines, mats, baskets, ropes ) and helping the forest regenerate.

Some elephants collected around the lake at Dimamou, another area where WILD is working with the community in a similar way. A small group of around 8 bold male elephants dare to inhabit a small remaining patch of marshy forest close to the busy Lake Gossi that is surrounded by a town. The female herds do not want to risk bringing their young so close to human activity.

Other groups of elephants dug in the dry stream beds to find water while others followed the scent of the small initial rain-showers carried on the wind to drink from small puddles. One group tried to make their way to the river, but it was too far for some of their babies to travel – and they died before they got there. However, there were many babies born last year and it seems that these were the only ones who did not survive. And, now that the rains arrived, things are (for now) calm.

More on the Mali Elephant Project >

Given every other year to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to conservation efforts involving a single animal species or multiple species, the Indianapolis Prize brings the world’s attention to the cause of animal conservation and the brave, talented and dedicated men and women who spend their lives saving the Earth’s endangered animal species.  This year, this prestigious award recognizes Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton for his life-long dedication to elephants in Africa.

Founder of Save the Elephants, a collaborator with WILD on the Mali Elephant Project, Iain’s work to study and protect elephants has spanned decades and countries and made significant impacts on the health and survival of elephants.  A few quotes from the Prize press release echo his dedication and devotion:

“The plight of the African elephant is intensely personal to Iain. He has studied, named and nurtured thousands of African elephants for generations, and it is this intimate understanding of and love for these magnificent mammals that drives Iain’s forceful efforts to secure a future for endangered African elephants,” said Michael Crowther, President/CEO, Indianapolis Zoo.

“Iain is a one-of-a-kind encyclopedia on elephants. His breadth of knowledge, derived from personal experience, observation, and interactions with managers, politicians, and land owners, is a critical and unique asset to conservation,” said George Wittemyer, assistant professor in Colorado State University’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, a protégé who has worked with Douglas-Hamilton since 1997.

Dr. Douglas-Hamilton will receive $100,000 and the Lilly Medal at a gala ceremony presented by Cummins Inc. on Sept. 25, 2010, at The Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

Read the full press release >

“We don’t want the elephants to disappear, because if the elephants disappear, it means the environment is no longer good for humans,” Malian villager.

This statement has stayed with me throughout the work of this project, and particularly as I travel between Mali and the UK, engaging with approaches to combat ecosystem degradation in both countries. It was in reply to a question I asked at the first village I visited in the Gourma. I was traveling with the field team in their search for elephants . The team would travel through an area asking local villagers whether there were elephants nearby, whether elephants ever visited this area, when and for how long, and a long and animated discussion in local languages would ensue.

We were traveling through the south of the Gourma, and it was clear that elephants sometimes raided crops from fields that were cleared on their migration route. They would also occasionally break into grain stores and help themselves to the harvest. Given the enormous effort involved in coaxing a harvest from this dry and unpredictable environment, I wondered what the local people’s attitude to the elephants was, and so asked “what would they think if the elephants disappeared?”.

“We don’t want the elephants to disappear, because if the elephants disappear, it means the environment is no longer good for humans”, was the reply.

This statement struck me with force because it is so counter to the attitude that I am used to hearing in “developed” countries where nature tends to be regarded as a cost, an expensive luxury, for which we have to make sacrifices. In northern countries, our first thought would be that eliminating elephants would mean more resources for us.

That was right at the beginning of the project. Since then our research has shown that while eliminating elephants might mean more resources for humans in the short term, the effect will be short-lived as it misses the long-term impact.

The forces threatening the future of elephants in the Gourma are the same as those that are making it more and more difficult for humans to live in this area. Those peoples living close to the land understand this intuitively, but systems such as ours that allow natural resources to be exploited for short-term gain without thought for the costs of that exploitation and where they fall, inevitably lead to a degraded environment that is less able to support life.

This attitude reflects a mind-set that regards the land as primary: it sees the health of individuals and society as impossible without the health of the natural support systems. It stands in contrast to that of a fossil-fuel powered society that has lost a sense of the “web of life” and seeks to pick and choose which bits of it are most useful for turning a profit, and which bits can be disposed of.

At approximately 5am this morning, a wall of water akin to a Tsunami surged through Elephant Watch Camp, catching tourists and staff unawares and sweeping away tents and facilities. It has been confirmed that camp owner Oria Douglas-Hamilton and guests managed to escape to safety by climbing to higher ground. Several members of staff were trapped in trees until the water subsided later today.

At approximately 7am the flood hit and decimated Save the Elephants’ research facility down river. Researchers and staff managed to drive to safety within seconds of the flood waters surging through the facility.

News just in confirm scenes of devastations at both facilities, with beds, tents, computers and vital research documentation submerged in mud and strung up in the treetops. Over 200 people watched from a hill above the camps as the waters wrecked havoc.

Staff and researchers hastily salvaged computers and camera equipment, but reports confirm that key research data, computers, equipment, kitchen facilities and food, lodging and personal effects have been washed away.

Although it is too early to asses the cost of the damage, Operations Manager Lucy King expects it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the facility, and Save the Elephants is now calling on the generosity of donors and interested parties to kick start the effort.

The immediate relief process has already begun, with blankets and water flown in by STE founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton this morning, as well as the assistance of the British army which is attempting to airlift people to safety and bring additional supplies.

The waters have currently receded to the point where staff are able to wade through the remnants of the facilities and retrieve what is left of their belongings.

Ominously, heavy rain clouds hang over Samburu and more heavy rains are expected as early as this evening at what is only the start of Kenya’s rainy season.

Please note that news updates on the flooding will be posted on the STE website.

The Republic of Tanzania and Zambia have submitted a controversial proposal to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, for a one time sell-off of over 80 tons of ivory.  The 15th CITES conference will convene from March 13-25th in Doha, Qatar and these two countries will need 66% of the 175 country votes in order to proceed.  Some other African countries support lifting the ban on sales, notably South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone are offering a counter proposal, calling for a 20 year moratorium on one-off sales and lobbying other countries to join them.  These countries are upset because of the potential implications of the sale -  the elephants don’t follow the borders and the sale could impact these shared elephants populations.  The proposal is seen to have “betrayed the spirit of conservation in the region.”

In the past, permission has been granted for one-off sales.  In 1997, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana were permitted to sell approximately 50 tons of ivory and in 2007, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe were permitted to sell 108 tons of ivory to Japan and China, earning a reported $20 million USD.  The 2007 deal included a 9 year moratorium on future sell-offs, but a loophole in the text allows for countries not involved in the 2007 deal to submit proposals during this time-span.

Tanzania is home to the second largest elephant population in Africa, and has also seen a drastic increase in poaching.   Nearly 50 elephants per month are killed in the Selous Game Reserve, and DNA tracking links these elephants to ivory sold in Japan.  In 1998, studies counted 67,000 elephants in Selous – today the count is 38,000.

The recent increase in poaching can be directly related to the 2007 sell-off, and we know that when the African elephant was placed onto the CITES list (Appendix A which prohibits trade) in 1989, poaching levels dropped significantly across Africa.  The proposal by Tanzania and Zambia includes a de-listing of the African elephant from Appendix I to Appendix II (little to no trade control).  This perhaps is the most threatening and alarming part of the proposal, and if approved could have wide-spread and devastating impacts for elephant herds across Africa.

“This is really the last call for elephants in Africa,” said Bourama Niagate, director of parks and natural reserves in Mali. “The devastating poaching of the 1980s first controlled through CITES is now so prevalent that the African elephant is all but extinct in some countries. This is because limited legal sales were allowed in the recent past providing the perfect cover for illegal trade in poached ivory. If we do not let elephant populations recover over the next 20 years by stopping the trade entirely, there will be no more African elephants outside a few zoological specimens in reserves in southern parts of Africa. Europe needs to do the right thing and back our stance now because it is nearly too late.” (The Independent)

For Tanzania, it is arguably a question of costs.  The country spends on average $75,000 USD each year to keeps its stockpile of seized ivory (12,131 tusks worth approximately $12 million in Asian markets) safe.  The country lobbies that the funds from the sell-off would be used exclusively for conservation and wildlife management.  But, when put into perspective of other economic drives — tourism, primarily for wildlife and wilderness related recreation, brought $1.3 million USD in 2008.  If there were no more elephants or the country became unsafe due to wide-spread poaching, this consistent income would surely diminish.  The option, as implemented Kenya in 1989, is to burn the stockpiles and eliminate the risk of raids and costs of protecting and storing the ivory.

In addition to these political threats, the African elephant faces severe environmental challenges – primarily drought.  Severe drought, such as that seen in Mali this past year, exacerbate the issue of survival for this gentle giants. A succession of drought and years of mismanagement in Kenya’s Amboseli game park had devastating effects last December, when nearly 2/3rds of the park’s wildlife died, including 75% of the zebra population, 98% of the wildebeest population and every elephant under two years old. Drought increases competition for water and has fatal effects on animals like elephants, which will stay away from watering holes crowded with people and livestock.

Like most conservation issues, this one involves politics, economics, environmental changes, cultural differences and relies heavily on international governing bodies to make the ‘right’ decision.  There’s a multitude of information available on this topic, and below I’ve listed just a few resources, in case you’d like to read more.

Environmental News Service, 2 March 2010: Bangkok Ivory Seizure Points Up CITES Elephant Dispute

26 February 2010: Statement by the Secretary-General of CITES on elephants and international trade of ivory

All Africa Online, 22 February 2010: Tanzania: Costs now the main issue in ivory debate

Daily Nation, 19 February 2010: Kenya and Tanzania disagree on ivory trade

Los Angeles Times, 11 February 2010: Security forces accused of poaching elephants, rhinos in Zimbabwe

Daily Nation, 9 February 2010: Kenya seeks US support against ivory trade

Science Magazine, 5 February 2010: Big Battle Brewing Over Elephants at upcoming CITES meeting

The Independent, 26 January 2010:  Britain to oppose sale of stockpiled ivory

The Independent, 25 January 2010: Save the elephant: ivory trading is set to resume

The Times Online, 23 January 2010: Poaching is a retro fashion we can do without

International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development, 22 January 2010: African Countries at odds over Ivory Trade

Zambian Wathdog: Namibia backs ivory sale plan of Zambia