Diana has survived by Mphoeng
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
I first meet Diana on the 22nd of November 2008, whilst I was out doing field work with Kate and Joseph. We could tell something was wrong the minute we saw her as she was limping quite badly. We soon discovered that her leg was – or had been broken at some stage. At the time she was with her juvenile babies who were taking good care of her. When she crossed the road she was shielded by them. On the 16th of September 2009 she was spotted again, almost a year since she was last seen. She was back with her natal herd and it seems like she is able to keep up with them. The herd is very protective, they must know that she is in need of a little extra help and they, shield her whenever she crosses exposed areas. Elephants are very resilient and it is incredible to think that she managed to survive, especially that when we saw her it was after the harsh October month of 2008 when the area is very dry and food scarce and we all await the arrival of the rains. Elephants caring for each other had saved her from predators who could have taken advantage of her weak state. I am glad she made it through thick and thin and I was very happy to see her again.
Sherini gets a visitor - Graham Bowles
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Its 2pm on a Saturday afternoon when I hear the splashing. It’s too regular to be one of the juveniles playing in the water and too fast to be one of the adults drinking. I climb down from my perch on the termite mound and walk out into the flood plain to see if I can get a better look.
I have been joining the mahouts during the day for about 4 weeks now. Every Friday and Saturday afternoons I catch up with the herd in the bush so that I can start recording their daytime behaviour. This involves collaring them in the boma just before they head out for the day and walking with them recording various behavioural events and degrees of visual contact between the herd members. By the end of the morning we have normally reached a suitable spot close to the edge of the floodplain. There are good shade trees, plenty to eat and water- and mud-holes to wallow and play in. By 2pm in the Delta in September temperatures are topping out at the mid 30’s Celcius and the whole place has that lazy, hazy feel to it; like its too hot to move.
But something is moving, and it sounds big. I skirt the edge of the island using the bushes for cover, trying to get a better look at whatever is making the splashes. But by now the splashing has stopped. Cathy, the matriarch is on our island and she is looking , well, not relaxed. She is looking across to the neighbouring island where Sherini and her 3 year old Abu is located. I peer into the island and make out the form of Abu and then of another elephant, much bigger than Sherini. It’s a wild male elephant, he’s about 20-25 years old, taller than Sherini at the shoulder, maybe over 2 meters but his tusks are thin making him a little on the immature side. The wind is in my favour and despite being only 20m away he hasn’t spotted me.
Interactions like these are exactly what I am after. Collecting vocal exchanges between herd members has been fairly straight forward but where things start to get really interesting is when the herd comes into contact with other wild elephants. Despite technically being a captive herd, my study subjects, the Abu herd, are ideal as they have this exposure and have had this exposure for the past 15 years. Therefore if they are communicating with other wild elephants I will be able to see exactly how their calling behaviour varies when these events happen.
At the moment this exchange seems amicable enough but I need a second opinion. Using the cover of the island again, I head back to the shady termite mound to inform the rest of the mahouts and they come to have a look. Most of the time these exchanges are allowed to play out but with Cathy carrying an injury the mahouts are unhappy about leaving him so close by. They bring the car and start to move him off the island and back to the main land. From splashes to waving goodbye takes less than 20 mins but having had the collars on Cathy and Sherini at the right place and the right time, the second by second exchange has all been documented.
Tags: elephants, infrasound, PhD, research
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Hello! This is my first ever blog and only my sixth day of having the Okavango Delta as my home, so bear with me!
So what brings me here? Well, I’ve been supporting Elephants for Africa since my fiancée, Dr Kate Evans, started it as a PhD research project back in 2002 and now I’ve just taken the next big step to join the Charity full time. My role is as Operations Manager, assuming responsibility for the day-to-day running and leadership in all business related or strategic issues. The idea being that this will enable to the researchers to be able to concentrate on doing the research (it plays to my strengths too).
Where did I come from? Well, I’m a Materials Engineer and I spent almost eleven years working in Product Development for Jaguar Land Rover. I joined as a graduate and worked my way up to the position of Technical Specialist, responsible for Material Characterisation. Hang in there, there is a link! As part of my role, I managed people and projects, controlled budgets, defined material strategy, established processes, created and ran training courses, gave presentations etc etc. All of these things are transferable to my new role.
I don’t plan to be chained to the office and have every intention of getting out in the field with the researchers and learning as much as I can about the Ele’s and the other flora and fauna in the area.
Until next time,
Sim
Sim joins the team
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Hello! This is my first ever blog and only my sixth day of having the Okavango Delta as my home, so bear with me!
So what brings me here? Well, I’ve been supporting Elephants for Africa since my fiancée, Dr Kate Evans, started it as a PhD research project back in 2002 and now I’ve just taken the next big step to join the Charity full time. My role is as Operations Manager, assuming responsibility for the day-to-day running and leadership in all business related or strategic issues. The idea being that this will enable to the researchers to be able to concentrate on doing the research (it plays to my strengths too).
Where did I come from? Well, I’m a Materials Engineer and I spent almost eleven years working in Product Development for Jaguar Land Rover. I joined as a graduate and worked my way up to the position of Technical Specialist, responsible for Material Characterisation. Hang in there, there is a link! As part of my role, I managed people and projects, controlled budgets, defined material strategy, established processes, created and ran training courses, gave presentations etc etc. All of these things are transferable to my new role.
I don’t plan to be chained to the office and have every intention of getting out in the field with the researchers and learning as much as I can about the Ele’s and the other flora and fauna in the area.
Until next time,
Sim
I am an elephant researcher again
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 13 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
This morning, after finalising the 2010 Calendars, Sim and I headed out to find elephants.
The bush is looking quite incredible at the moment, as the knobthorn trees are in flower and the leadwood trees are in seed, bringing wonderful shades of yellow and orange to the field. The birdlife is magnificent at the moment too, we saw crimson breasted shrike, a yellow billed kite, lilac breasted rollers, cattle egret and little egret, spurwinged goose and all sorts.
At first crossing (a deep crossing where the water comes over the bonnet) we found some elephants, unfortunately they were mostley hidden in the thick bush but I think it was the ‘B’ herd (all the female’s names start with a B) and they were all looking terribly skinny and feeding off what looked to be a dead tree. It is a hard time of year as we wait for the rains, which is quite as we are surrounded by water from the floods. However, the trees are in winter mode and the wildlife that has been contrained to small amount of land have eaten most which is available.
We spent some time with them and moved on and continued with our route. There is still plenty of water around, making the driving a little tense, but we managed to survive without getting stuck. Tomorrow we are going to do the road survey so I hope we manage the same then!!!!
Stuck
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 08 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Sim and I are currently stuck in Cape Town - awaiting for our personal belongings but the ship has only just left Antwerp. Our container was short-shipped and no one though to tell us. So now we have to make another plan to get to Botswana. Very frustrated, disappointed and down
Kate Evans is fundraising for Elephants For Africa - JustGiving
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Kate Evans is fundraising for Elephants For Africa - JustGiving
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Mafunyane out from hiding by Mphoeng
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 17 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Mafunyane is being elusive. The problem is that is collar stopped giving GPS downloads and so we have not been able to find him. Also the plane we use to track the elephants has been out of action, after it was badly damaged in a hail storm so we have not been able to track from him from the air. We have been tracking him from the ground but to no avail. On the 18th of May 2009 it was a good day as he was spotted again and looked healthy and well, but the bad news is that we could not pick him up on his VHF which means that this has now stopped working too.
Tricky thing is that now we have to rely on visual sightings to re-collar him which is a daunting task. I have been on a mission to locate him, telling everyone to inform the research team if they find Mafunyane. It is a challenge as we are not certain whether he is still in the area or not however ethologically elephants will spend sometime in an area before they transverse to another area therefore my hope is that he is still around camp. Maybe Mafunyane will prove this theory wrong as animal behaviour is a complicated field and its difficult to predict the behaviour of an animal.
The re-collaring of Mafunyane will be a mission accomplished I will keep our readers informed about this mission.
A night for researcher and Guides in the bush
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 24 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
With flood Water is at its highest level and delta being a difficult terrain to drive on getting stuck is one of things that one can expect in the area. Firstly driving through deep waters and deep sand and muddy patches in this case the researcher and two guides got stuck in muddy water. The worst thing was that it was in the evening and it got darker and had to jack vehicle up putting some logs and the mosquitoes were biting us all over.
When it got darker that is when most of the predators are active lions, leopards etc. While were still there we heard something splashing water all of us, the guide, Thapelo, a new trainee guide and I went into the vehicle and we realised that it was a hyena having come to investigate what was happening. We never had expected to get stuck on that mud and what I have realised about getting stuck is that it happens when one least expected it.
The flooding Okavango Delta. By Mphoeng
Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 05 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
This year the flood water is so high that it has restricted researchers in their quest to find elephants. Most of the crossings have very deep water which is difficult for vehicles to cross. Although elephants are terrestrial animals the researchers now are using a boat to do the surveys. Vehicles can only cover small areas.
Boat used as a mode of transport to look for elephants
The flood water is one of the highest that has been experienced in years. Every now and then after a span of time highest floods are experienced. Globally we are in the era of climate change industrialised countries producing some harmful gases into the environment this having affected the developing countries like Botswana. Drought that has adverse impact on communities floods in some countries that impact negatively in the livelihoods of communities.
However the flood water in Botswana which is a semi-desert brings life sustain the communities residing in close proximity to the Delta. Botswana and Batswana as a whole have derived benefits being in the form of revenues from the Delta that had seen Batswana being able to go to schools, universities.
The Flood waters
The Delta means a lot to us as a country. Botswana now has a logo that we identify our country with; it reads as follows, Opportunity and tranquillity beckons.
Calmness could be felt in Okavango Delta the sounds of wilderness, birds, frogs etc.
The slogan is mainly based on opportunities that Delta provides for tourism, the calmness that Okavango Delta provides, and the business opportunities that Botswana provides.
As Batswana we believe that we have to set goals for our selves and the country support every aspect being environmental sustainability and we believe that education is an empowerment.
We have seven visions that we embrace
1. A Prosperous, Productive and Innovative Nation
2. A Compassionate, Just and Caring Nation
3. A Safe and Secure Nation
4. An Open, Democratic and Accountable Nation
5. A Moral and Tolerant Nation
6. An educated and informed nation
7. A united and proud nation
Okavango Delta, organisms from smallest to biggest organisms like elephant needs consorted efforts as it is clear education is key. People who clearly comprehend how wild species benefit them directly and indirectly revenues from photographic tourism providing free education t o Batswana kids. Non Governmental Organisation like Elephants For Africa which provides education for communities which is an outreach programme. Education has an ability to change perspectives of communities and is in line with the vision of the country. Organisations as Elephants for Africa will play a pivotal role in achieving these goals. Reaching the goals needs to be concerted efforts of private, government, communities and organisation that are owned by government and private sector working together.
Tags: botswana, elephants, flood. delta
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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. -
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