Apologies
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 28 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Apologies for the long delay in blogging - a few of you are wondering how we are doing. In a nutshell fine. The car problems set us back for a while and then I have been on a workshop and took a break for a couple of weeks.
The workshop was about Animal Sampling Techniques and was a wonderful opportunity to be taught by incredible people in the field of Biostatistics. It was really hard work to follow all the maths that was thrown at us - but I walked away understanding more of the concepts and problems behind evaluation animal population sizes. I have also met some great people working throughout the world and hope to maintain these relationships so we can work together to make animal research more effective. This workshop was in Evora, Portugal and having got the coach back to Lisbon with one of the lecturers we set the seed of ideas to have one in Africa sometime!!!! That really would be great.
I am currently in the UK sorting out Mphoeng’s (our scholarship student) masters degree at the University of Bristol as well as my post doc on the hormonal analysis of puberty in male elephants. Graham and Mphoeng continue to work hard in Botswana and will be updating us all soon on life in the bush.
The Trials of Life
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 06 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
A frustrating couple of weeks with a broken down car…
While out driving in the south of the concession there was dubious clunk from underneath the bonnet followed by a delicate plume of steam. It was then that the driver of our car, who although was not part of the research team and shall remain nameless(!), realised something may be amiss! After a long wait on a chilly night, a small rescue team of a mechanic and tractor driver began to survey the damage. At first glance it seemed like the timing belt had gone. However, a more detailed inspection the following day revealed the more serious condition of a broken cam shaft.
As anyone who has spent time in the bush knows, your car is your lifeline, you come to rely on it for everything out in the bush. Yet it is also by far the most expensive piece of equipment to run and maintain which tends to make for a bit of a love/hate relationship. Despite the money you pour into it, the time and effort spent maintaining it, and the gentle coaxings whispered to it on chilly mornings to get her started, there are times when you just have to admit defeat and spend a few days in camp while she rests.
Never to be thwarted by such trivial problems as broken cam shafts, the research has been swinging along nicely. Poster has been tracking the released elephants from the internet, using GPS positioning and newly developed skills with ArcView mapping software. With good news, it looks like our latest release, Pula, has for the most part been staying with Nandipa in the bush.
Mufunyane, ever obliging to our problems, decided to return to Seba camp for the past three days giving us a chance to catch up with him for the first time in a while. Although a little thin from his excursions he is otherwise looking well. Thando has continued to frequent his usual areas up in the Jao concession and Seba is still proving elusive due to a collar malfunctions.
One of the challenges to carrying out research in such remote areas is the abuse that the car and other equipment inevitably sustains. While every effort is made to take the upmost care over this equipment it is unavoidable that the researchers will be dogged by equipment failures at some point. While the support from Elephant Back Safari Company is a huge help, it is the donations from our supporters and donors that enable us to maintain the essential equipment needed to exist in the bush and continue the research on a day to day basis.
The EFA research team would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all those that have supported us so far on the project and to please keep up the support.
Life in the Bush
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 29 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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!!!!
Car Problems
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 20 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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!!!
Pula’s friends
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 20 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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
Pula’s new friends
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 13 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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
Bristol Festival of Nature
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 10 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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
Tags: conservation, converstation, elephants, fundraising, poaching
Thanks to Donors
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 04 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana
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. -
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