Archive for June, 2008
Some days we don’t see any elephants, but the glorious thing about the Delta is that we always see something. It may be a new spider, the wonderful sighting of the beautiful roller bird, the affection between a mother baboon and her baby as she grooms him in the fading light of dusk; the Delta is an incredible place. When times are tough, I sit down and watch for five minutes and a story will unfold before my eyes and I remember why I am here and what I am doing it for, and so my motivation returns and I get back to the job in hand. At the moment we are still camp bound as the car is out of action. Frustrating to say the least, but we have to be patient and there is always plenty of computer work to be getting on with and so we make the most of that opportunity. Mafunyane has chosen this time to come back into the area, and we have seen him a couple of times in camp. We are desperate to go out and track him but thankful for the times he comes into camp and we can check up on his health etc. Nandipa continues to be a star when it comes to Pula as they are still together and that makes me happy. They have been meeting up with males of all ages, which is good for Pula and his social skills. The males will stay for an hour or a few days and it is always interesting to see how the released elephants react. I have a busy week ahead and so I had better get going. Thats all for now, heres to the car coming back soon!!!!
Well, we are all hard at work, but stuck in the office as our vehicle has been struck down. The mechanics are busy trying to sort it out but at the moment we do not know what is wrong with it. The delta is very hard on the cars and this time of year is particulary bad because of all the water around. We all have our fingers crossed that the car is back on the road soon and that the solution is not too expensive!!!
Recently two young males have joined Pula, Ntongeni and Nandipa. They are a little taller than Pula so are about 8-10 years old. Pula is loving thier company and it is great to watch them interact and learn about each other. Otherwise all is well. Pula is adapting well after his release nearly a month ago. We could not have asked for anything better, long may it continue. Kate
Dear All, It was a busy, hot and sunny weekend at the waterfront in Bristol. I was coming back and forth to the stall as I was on BBC Radio Bristol & Somerset on the Saturday morning and then gave a talk on Elephant Conservation on the Sunday afternoon, thankfully I had two postgradate students from the University kindly dontate their time and helped out. I really could not have done it without them. The radio interview went well (so my dad said!!!) although their was some misunderstanding and they asked me about elephant converstation not conservation, thankfully I know a little about the latter and managed to wing it!! The talk on Sunday went well, and I had lots of postive feedback. I wanted to integrate some of the things an elephant researcher gets up to as well as get across the hard hitting facts of elephant conservation and I think I achieved that. A few friends turned up to give me moral support, which was great - I really appreciated their friendly faces in the crowd. By the end of Sunday I was finished - I am still recovering now to be honest. Hopefully there will be more people joining the Elephant supporters family soon. Best Kate
We greatfully received an an Anonymous donation of $50 in May. Thanks so much to the donor. This weekend I am busy at the Festival of Nature in Bristol, UK and will be manning our stall to raise more funds and awareness and on Sunday I will be giving a talk about the work that we do (1330-1415) please come along if you are around. Best wishes Kate |
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Hi, I am Kate Evans, or more commonly known as Elephant Kate. I am a zoologist whose great love is elephants. Since 2002 I have been living my dream by researching elephants in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. I decided I was going to be an elephant researcher when I was seven. I was living in Asia at the time and visited the elephant orphanage in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It was there that I made up my mind I was going to work for these majestic and intelligent animals. I made a promise to an elephant and we all know an elephant never forgets!!!! It took me 20 years to finally realise my dream and start my life as an elephant researcher. It was 20 years well spent and now I have to pinch myself most days to make sure it is true and I am living my dream.
I now head up a team who are researching the elephants and trying to work out the social and ecological needs of the largest remaining population of the African elephant. From time to time, other team members will add their thoughts and experiences.
I love sharing my experiences - so I hope that this blog is a medium through which you will be able to join the elephants and I on our adventures in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
