Blog

To date, we still have not received any data from Kgosi. Unfortunately, due to some of the many obstacles (see 2 January blog), we have to remain patient as we wait for the availability of a plane to fly us to his last known location.

Letsatsi remains in Luiana Partial Reserve in southern Angola. Not once has she crossed back into the Caprivi region of Namibia, nor has she gone to the Kwando river, which is in close proximity. She spent the entire month in a small corner of the reserve, drinking from seasonal pans and enjoying the lush environment it has to offer. Aside from the land mines in the area, it seems that for the time being it is a safe area free from worries.

The surprising data is now coming from Mma Khama. For quite some time, she seemed to remain in a small area in the Mababe Depression. But this last month, she has led her herd distances up to 50km a day, walking a full circle around the Depression. This has made their home range for the month a whopping 4,374 km!

First, they headed southeast, stopping for a full week at a series of full natural pans. Then, they headed south until they were obstructed by the southern buffalo fence, which forced them to turn west, where they marched two full days and 78km along the fence line.

The buffalo fence runs north to south along the Okavango Delta. The southern fence was erected in 1982 in order to control the spread of diseases between livestock and wildlife populations. The fence is especially useful for keeping buffalo populations - known for transmitting foot-and-mouth disease - within the inner parts of the Delta and separate from cattle populations in the outer parts.

Finally, when clear of the Depression, Mma Khama and her family turned, hiking 70km north, where we find them now rambling about in the southern protected area of the Moremi Game Reserve, having returned close to the Delta. Up until now they have been roaming in what is known as Wildlife Management Areas. These particular areas are hunting concessions and are avoided during the hunting season. But at present it is not that season and the area is a fruitful, pleasing habitat for the elephants to graze.

Reviewing Mma Khama’s path this month, we found it quite amazing that she made such a huge loop, clearly avoiding the centre of the Depression. Why would she do this?  Mike and I both arrived at the same reasonable conclusion: during the rainy season, there are bouts of time where we see little rainfall and drying pans, creating big pools of nothing but thick, sludgy mud. The centre of the Depression tends to turn this way, making it impossible to cross. But this isn’t an issue for elephants, as they love rolling around in mud! But for the little ones it can be detrimental when the mud is too thick and heavy. Young calves sometimes get stuck, and regardless of how much the herd tries to pull them out, at times they can do nothing to help. Mma Khama is an insightful matriarch, and with our hopes that she may have a very young calf in tow, she must know what areas to avoid.

As soon as we overcome our barrier and can take to the air, we’ll find out!

Don't miss the next update!

• Find out more about Kelly and her colleagues at Elephants Without Borders and why it's important to track elephants in southern Africa.
  
  
• You can follow in the footsteps of our satellite collared elephants on our interactive tracking maps.