A group of men haul an elephant up, back on to his feet, having tranquillised the beast before sending him, and seven chums, on their way again.
For the first time in 40 years the Kenya Wildlife Services undertook the project in Tsavo East National Park this week, as they want to track the elephants‘ migration routes.
Using GPS technology KSW collared the sedated elephants – who are eight of nearly 13,000 in the park – with the help of the Animal Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in the park 30km south-east of Nairobi.
Having marked the male and female beasts, the tracking devices will assist in the mapping out of migratory routes and corridors in the park and its buffer zones within the larger ecosystem.
Located in different parts of the park, which is a massive 13,747 square kilometres, the tagged elephants will be closely monitored for 20 months – as long as they retain the collars.
The collars themselves will enable the KWS to effectively design intervention measures for security operations and human-elephant conflict mitigation.
The last collaring in Tsavo East was done in 1972 using conventional collars that required manual tracking with radio transmitters.
IFAW President and CEO Fred O’Regan believes that the tracking is very important for elephant management and conservation.
He said: ‚The cost of losing elephants and other wildlife and their habitats is more costly than securing them.
‚IFAW recognises that Tsavo is a major lifeline for elephants and Kenya as a whole.
‚It is therefore vital for KWS and ourselves to know which migratory areas are most critical for elephant survival so as to secure those areas, as well as reduce conflict incidences with humans.‘
A recent aerial census conducted last month established 12,572 elephants, an increase from 11,696 in 2008.
The fluctuation of Tsavo’s elephant populations over the decades has had significant impacts on the ecology of the ecosystem.
In 1967, the ecosystem had some 35,000 elephants while about 5,400 individuals were left in 1988.
Heavy armed poaching and severe drought were responsible for this rapid decline. However since 1990s, concerted efforts by KWS and other conservation partners have seen elephant populations steadily increase to the current status.
Common challenges facing Tsavo’s management are poaching for ivory, human encroachment and habitat destruction, human-elephant conflict, livestock incursions into the Parks, and the adverse and emergent effects of climate change such as severe droughts.
