The Okavango panhandle is a unique area… a system where wildlife, in particular elephants, and people struggle to live within a confined area.The purpose of the survey is to answer pertinent questions as to the area’s population of elephants, their growth rate, their limited movements, an insight to human-elephant conflict in the region, and to potentially be able to put forward various management options to relieve elephant compression and their conflict with people.

We had decided to focus on large bulls, as they are becoming a rarity seen in the Chobe water front area. Young bulls and breeding herds are plentiful, but we would like to learn more about the random, larger bulls that occasionally come to the river.

Kachikau’s death is tragic and sadly unnecessary. The issues surrounding the incident are extremely complex, but they threaten African elephants throughout the continent.

…main purpose of the site will be to assess methods and low-cost techniques that work best to reduce elephant crop raiding, train villagers in deterrence methods and productive conservation farming methods, and to motivate community involvement in human-elephant conflict resolution and adopt wildlife conservation practices

The program was attended by nearly 90 delegates representing 19 countries from around the world, a diversified range of elephant related vocations from non-profit organizations, zoological organizations, universities and independent entities.

Nothing seems better than to relax by taking a casual drive through Chobe National Park… lush and full of vitality, glistening from the combination of rain’s dew and the sun’s rays peeking from building, bellowing clouds…

After long and hesitant stays… the elephants have finally begun to make their seasonal movements

It was agreed that the remaining 9 elephants would be translocated and released back into the wild… Elephants Without Borders was approached to offer advice and to discuss the possibility of helping on the post-monitoring program of the herd. EWB suggested that satellite collars

We must appreciate and remember that the river systems and adjoining community conservancies are valuable habitats for wildlife.

This season, we were quite busy and took collars off eleven elephants and deployed eight others, in a wide-variety of areas, thus far!