Visiting partners in remote parts of Africa is a core part of our work and ensures that every dollar donated is used for maximum benefit for elephants. However, when the COVID pandemic struck, our team found themselves grounded in Kenya, only able to communicate with partners through crackly internet calls. Fortunately travel restrictions have eased and our intrepid teams are making up for lost time by visiting key elephants sites and partners. ECF Director, Dr. Chris Thouless, was particularly impressed by what he saw during a recent visit to Central Africa.
A critical elephant landscape with high levels of human-elephant conflict (HEC) in Botswana is getting special treatment. ECF grantee, Ecoexist Trust, is taking a holistic approach to mitigate HEC by addressing the root causes of the conflict.
Successful law enforcement efforts against high profile wildlife criminals like the members of the Kromah network have disrupted ivory trafficking networks. These arrests also send a clear signal that trading in ivory is no longer a low risk activity. Read more about how members of this notorious network have been brought to justice.
In March 2022, 11 bull elephants started an epic journey that saw them move over 800 km from southern Mozambique, across Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Their extraordinary and harrowing trek was captured in this first-hand account by ECF grantee Dr. Michele Henley of Elephants Alive. Leading this group was a young bull nicknamed Trailblazer that had been collared in Mozambique by ECF partner the Mozambique Wildlife Alliance, allowing him and the rest of the group to be monitored.
A trailblazing, collared bull elephant named Swazi has made headlines after crossing three countries - South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, and navigating busy roads, human settlements, farms and mines. Along with two other bulls, Swazi is mapping the connectivity of a vast landscape. ECF partner, Elephants Alive, which collared Swazi and one of the other bulls named Gutano, is tracking the trioβs movements in real time. The valuable data from their epic journey can advise on future development plans to enable humans to live harmoniously with wildlife.
The Elephant Crisis Fund has been supporting anti-poaching work in Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2014. In 2019 it started funding a new unique type of conservation work - the reform of two notorious forest elephants poachers called βRangerβ Lavino and Kitona Kilo.
A wild elephant has been sighted for the first time in many years in Senegalβs Niokolo-Koba National Park.
The lone bull was spotted by a field team including a researcher from Panthera, in Niokolo on January 19. The sighting is believed to be the first confirmed direct sighting of an elephant in the park in many years.
WCS announced today that it has fitted six elephants with GPS/satellite collars over the past two months in Nigeriaβs Yankari Game Reserve. The collars are providing real-time tracking of elephant herds, allowing ranger teams to shadow the elephants at all times and alert the reserve manager whenever elephants are in danger or stray outside of the reserve.
US enforcement agencies have arrested two kingpins at the heart of a major drug and ivory smuggling network in Africa. The arrests were made following an in-depth investigation by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and law enforcement agencies and conservation partners.
Meet game ranger, Peter Tembo and his dog, Lego. Peter is the head of the successful ECF-funded Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) Detection and Tracking Dog Unit in Zambia, while Lego is his trusted four-legged partner. Peter's life changed after a chance encounter in 2010.