Amboseli Elephants Return Home

For the first time in nearly thirty years, elephants have been sighted in the Central Kajido District, which is located in the Kilimanjaro Heartland. The Kilimanjaro Heartland straddles between the borders of Tanzania and Kenya. The Heartland supports exceptional biological and other values, such as the best known and studied population of African elephants in the world. It is also home to endangered species including cheetah and wild dogs, and contains an important system of wetlands welling up from Mt. Kilimanjaro. The few Amboseli elephants reported are rediscovering their old territory for the first time since the huge poaching outbreaks of the 1970s and 1980s.

Between April 30 and May 5, 2001, AWF-affiliates recorded three sightings in the Central Kajido District. The first sighting was of six elephants that Maasai informants say came from Selenge, 50-60 km southeast; the second was of five elephants believed to be from the same group. The last sighting was of an 18-20 year old, single, male elephant that was feeding between a local farm and elementary school -- this elephant had somehow managed to avoid large numbers of Maasai people who have not seen an elephant in the area for nearly twenty years.

This is the most important effort by elephants to reoccupy their pre-1970's range in Central Kajiado, reports Michael Rainy, an AWF-supported tracker of wild dogs. He further states that they must be protected and monitored because almost no Maasai in the area still know what elephants are.

Great news from the field and further evidence that conservation can work in Africa.