Cover photo: If you want to get to grips with fieldwork, a hands on approach is always best. By Josh Clay *** I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of elephant poo. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of this most satisfactory olfactory sensation, I would describe it as being a thick, musky scent that is utterly wild and unmistakeably elephantine. I am fortunate to have…
Understanding the magnificent, intelligent, and highly endangered forest elephant By Josh Clay Cover photo by Frank af Petersons, 2017 Whenever African elephants are mentioned, it is understandably the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) that receives all the headlines. Ask any child in the world and they would probably be able to identify one from a line-up. I doubt many of these children, let alone most adults, are aware that there are…
Field Report by Esther Gathiru, Elephants and Bees Project 10th June 2021 Stitching Academy is a school managed by Soko Community Trust under Soko Kenya. This was their seventh graduation which comprised of stitching and computer studies students as this are the main courses offered. *** Tour to Soko Factory On arrival we first visited Soko factory as according to plan where we had an introductory session from madam Mwaka, a…
Field Report by Intern Josh Clay, Elephants and Bees Project This is Harry. He is mad in general and mad about snakes in particular. *** He has all the makings of a brilliant naturalist. His uniform at E&B is a strict regime of ill-fitting Hawaiian shirts and just-that-little-bit-too-short-shorts. Harry can be found spending most of his spare time catching snakes, often shirtless, and regularly presenting his findings to an often-reluctant…
Field Report by Intern Heliabel Bomstein, Elephants and Bees Project Manolo is 40 years old, marked wrinkles all over his face, a pierced right ear and peaceful dark eyes. He’s one of the veterans of the area. When asked, people will tell you that his community always lived there and that he has been around for many long years. Manolo lives with his peers, a small group of about 15…
Field Report by Intern Ephie Lumumba, Elephants and Bees Project Elephants are known crop raiders, so understanding the timing of the raid and the choice of crops through tracking and frequent monitoring is crucial in developing targeted elephant monitoring and effective mitigation strategies. Different local communities coexist with elephants in different methods depending on governmental support and other stakeholder’s capacity. Communities living in areas prone to human elephant conflict try…
Field Report by Intern Jessica Murage, Elephants and Bees Project On 13th March class 5-8 pupils from Kileva primary school were exhilarated for their trip to Tsavo East National Park. We started the trip at 8.00 in the morning so that we’d have enough time to explore. Tsavo East is located near Voi Town in the Taita Taveta District and is home to numerous iconic large mammals including elephants,…
Field Report by Intern Jessica Murage, Elephants and Bees Project This year World Wildlife Day fell on the 3rd of March and was celebrated under the theme “Forests and livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”, as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties…
“We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all.” ~ Professor Dr. Wangari Maathai ~ ~ Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Winner ~ *** Happy International Women’s Day 2021! Yesterday was International Women’s Day and we couldn’t be more proud for trying our hardest to support women’s empowerment efforts in Sagalla community. The 2021…
The Women’s Enterprise Center has kicked off 2021 with 2 weeks of training for the Mlambeni Basket Weavers group. The ladies are learning new elephant-friendly enterprise activities to help diversify their income away from a pure reliance on maize farming. A team from GoGrow Limited, facilitated by trainers Lucy Kerei and Robert Matheka, have led the group in Enterprise Development Training, engaging the women in entrepreneurship, bookkeeping and marketing skills. *** Half…