Mthondo’s New Satellite Tracking Collar

Written By: admin on January 9, 2012 No Comment

Mthondo is a magnificent elephant bull that was born in Zimbabwe in 1975. As a young calf, he fell victim to a culling operation and was taken to Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. Years later, as an adolescent he was transferred to Botswana, joining Abu Camp’s herd in 1993. In January 2010, Mthondo was released from Abu Camp back into the Okavango Delta wilderness area. His release was a vital part of the original vision of the Abu Concession “to return elephants that have spent much of their lives in captivity back into the African wild.”

Mthondo w his failing collar approached us

Mthondo wearing his failing collar approached us

At present, eight elephants have been released from Abu camp, all with the cooperation and full endorsement of the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Two elephants were recently released in August 2010, Gika and her 8 year old female calf who are now being carefully monitored by Elephants Without Borders. All the released elephants are fitted with collars and are tracked by satellite, enabling researchers to pinpoint their exact locations. The satellite data is backed by monitoring the elephants on-the-ground to attain visual observations of their behaviour while they adjust to their new surroundings.

After spotting him, the team discuss the plan

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. Over the past two weeks, we received reports that Mthondo had been sighted in Abu’s neighboring concessions near Pom Pom Camp and Xaranna Camp. With our permits from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, the EWB team was finally able to assemble this week and went out to find him.

Upon landing we were met by Pom Pom Camp’s guides who had been keeping a watchful eye on Mthondo. However, he had not been sighted in two days, so we had to track him from a small plane and get a visual sighting of his exact location. Within a few minutes, we picked-up his emergency double beeping VHF signal and Mthondo was spotted an hour’s drive from the airstrip. Our Pom Pom guide, Rams, is very familiar with the terrain and was able to drive us to his exact location rather quickly, before Mthondo moved too far.

Okavango on-lookers

We were lucky, the conditions were perfect, and we managed to re-collar him from the ground in an open floodplain. The early morning temperature was cool and the air carried a slight breeze. We parked under a shady leadwood tree and watched Mthondo, who was accompanied by another large wild bull. He slowly walked across the grassy floodplain until they were within 20 meters of our vehicle. This provided Dr. Rob Jackson, our vet, with the perfect opportunity to dart him. When the dart hit him, he did not react in the slightest, but slowly walked for about one kilometer before resting where the drugs took effect and he fell asleep. We quickly changed his collar and had him back on his feet within a short time. Afterwards, we watched him for about an hour, until he wandered off and we decided to drive away.

pulling a belt under a sleeping elephant is no easy task!

Kelly soothes him as Rob Jackson prepares the antidote

when the antidote is given, you better move!

This morning, we received an email from Rams, reporting Mthondo was sighted having a mud wallow, along with three other large wild bulls, close to Pom Pom Camp again.

We’d like to express our appreciation to Pom Pom Camp and Xaranna Camp for their kind assistance. Special thanks to all the guides that have been reporting and watching Mthondo, especially Rams and Chocks for their help during this exercise. Elephants Without Borders is privileged to be associated with Abu Camp’s ambitious vision to release previously captive elephants back into one of Africa’s great wildlife refuges, the Okavango Delta.

To learn more about EWB’s endeavors: http://www.elephantswithoutborders.org/

Please support our conservation efforts, to do so logon to: http://www.elephantswithoutborders.org/donate.php