He said if we could secure large tracts of habitat for elephants and promote the ideal that communities could mutually benefit living with wildlife, then we would be securing a healthy environment for all: elephants, wildlife and people.

A complex mosaic of forests, national parks, agricultural fields, grazing lands and human settlements interspersed with diverse natural communities poses significant challenges for conservation in the Chobe district. Within this mosaic, the FRs are important habitats for threatened and endangered wildlife species such as eland, roan, and sable.

Mthondo’s satellite signal had failed and the VHF component of his collar unit was transmitting intermittent signals, which means that the batteries in the unit were about to fail. So, there was an urgency to find him and replace his old collar.

Though films and documentaries of Chobe and the surrounding areas often shape people’s perceptions of this environment abroad, they cannot do justice to the richness of the region’s biodiversity, in terms of both landscape and wildlife.

we spotted a magnificent, tall lone bull in the shrubs. With a quick conversation amongst the team, it was agreed, he would be the one

Through the tall grasses we could barely make out the massive bodies of elephants up ahead. We tried to scan their backs to take note of the satellite unit on Mary, but we could not identify her. A large female with a calf detected us, “strangers”, in the brush. She perked her head and ears up as she moved forward to investigate.

… with every year the numbers of elephants visiting or residing on the island increase… now there is growing concern over the recent habitat changes on the island as well, which are mainly attributed to these large elephant numbers and masses of impala.

there is concern when elephants are so close to farms and villages. Human-elephant conflict incidences are on the rise, especially this time of year when crops are ready to be harvested. So for the last couple of months, we have been sitting on pins and needles

Elephants Without Borders just completed flying a mammoth aerial survey, counting elephants and wildlife species throughout northern Botswana… The information on elephant and wildlife numbers, distribution, movements, and demographic characteristics from this study will be incorporated into population models to better understand a variety of research and management questions relating to wildlife ecology and conservation management

A few years is but a snapshot in an elephant’s life and we felt because of the uniqueness of her story, we had much to learn from Rainbow Spirit. So it was decided to redeploy a second satellite collar on her, enabling us to study her long-time movements.