Dr. Festus Ihwagi
Senior Scientist & Research Policy Lead
Festus joined Save the Elephants research team in 2005 with a special interest in elephant habitat interactions. He studied the impacts of elephants on the woody plant community along the Ewaso River and observed selective utilization of their bark by elephants. He then joined the team with skills in GIS which opened up a dual role as a GIS analyst. He is also involved in the participatory Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program where his team leads the harmonization of mortality records.
His interests lie in understanding the drivers, spatial and temporal dynamics of poaching across the African elephant range; the subject of his doctoral thesis at the University of Twente, Netherlands. His full profile and publications can be seen here.