Blog

It has been two full months since we received a satellite transmission from Kgosi. This has been tremendously worrying. We have lost transmissions before and it is not the best scenario. (See blog from 22 February.) We were particularly concerned as in his last location he was wandering in a very remote area where incidents of poaching have been reported. I find it quite odd that you do not hear much about poaching in the media, giving the false impression that it is no longer of grave concern - as if it was a problem of the past. It is true that many countries have incorporated extensive anti-poaching programmes, as Botswana has, but we know from various colleagues, reports, local villagers and field experience that it is not anywhere near a resolved issue. In fact, recent studies have verified how extensive the problem is, some even specifying particular areas of Africa.

Luckily for us, we finally had the opportunity to fly this week and search for Kgosi. One can never tell how far in two months a strong, large bull will travel. Logically we flew in the general direction of his last known location with his VHF frequency constantly on the receiver and suddenly we heard a faint signal! Twisting and turning the plane, we could determine what general direction this signal was coming from. As we drew nearer, the signal became stronger. In those minutes of anticipation our hearts were in our throats – we had no idea what we would find. We could not see any elephants in sight, but the signal was verifying that we were getting closer. All of a sudden we spotted a huge herd of more than 300 elephants in the grassland savannah up ahead! We were ecstatic!

A sight like this is one of little comparison… it’s just beautiful. Now, the task ahead lies in finding Kgosi. Flying low, everyone’s eyes glued to the windows, searching the backs of this tremendous herd, Mike yelled, 'There he is!' And sure enough, Kgosi was spotted looking large as life, brilliant and healthy. What relief!

The sad irony to this story is that we must now say goodbye to Kgosi for the time being. With the failure of his satellite unit, we can no longer track him by satellite and will have to rely on his VHF frequency to remove his collar in a few months. The batteries on the collar should last until Kgosi moves into a more conducive area for us to retrieve it and also allow us time to coordinate logistics.

We will be looking forward to sharing the event with everyone on love earth when we return to Kgosi to bid him our thanks and final goodbye.

Letsatsi continues to roam in the teak woodlands of Luiana Partial Reserve in southeast Angola. She temporarily crossed south into Namibia, but remained there for only a few days and returned back into the area’s parallel sand dune valleys and suffices on their water-filled pans. This area is relatively undisturbed by humans.

We had hoped to get a visual on Mma Khama, but as she was in the total opposite direction from our take-off point to Kgosi, we opted to prioritise and find him first. From her satellite points, we can see that she led her herd into the periphery of the Okavango Delta and remained there for a week. Then on 18 March, for some unknown reason, she moved an amazing 55km back into the Mababe Depression! Most of her movements have been small and subtle, wandering from pan to pan and into the flooded Delta. This one-day streak of considerable distance surprised us and the reason is a mystery. At present, she is now in the centre of the Depression, which just recently was impermeable for young elephants as they could get stuck in the mud (see 7 March blog). This indicates to us that the mud and pans are already beginning to dry, allowing the elephants to get through.