Flood Relief Update-Save the Elephants

Dear STE friends and Supporters

We would like to thank you for your generous donations to the STE flood relief effort. We are very heartened by your support during these difficult days. As you know, our research facility was severely damaged in the flooding, and some valuable research data was lost. We can be thankful that there was no loss of life. Though two people were washed away both were rescued before they drowned. We now have food, drinking water and temporary shelter.

We have managed to salvage a good deal from the thick carpet of mud that covered the site.. Some items, like tents, were swept kilometers downstream by the water and we have recovered those that were not too badly damaged. We are still living in temporary tents supplied by the British army and kind donors, but some of our repaired tents have been put up again. Boxes of Red Cross emergency kits and plastic flagons of clean water are in use. Now that the immediate crisis is over we have restored the Solar generator, we can recharge our cell phones and communicate by email and skype.

Thankfully, a large portion of our research data has also been saved. Data losses were not as bad as feared at first. Although irreplaceable notebooks were lost or destroyed, most of the quantative contents had been transcribed into digital format and backed-up on several hard drives and computers both in camp and in Nairobi and abroad. However, all our books were destroyed except a few in the upstairs attic, where David Daballen has his office.

Personal losses of possessions amongst our staff were heavy, as people kept their belongings in their tents. We are doing what we can to compensate them.

So we are set to recover from this massive set back. The good news is that our cars survived and we have resumed collecting field data. Our long term records are now proving their worth as they are increasingly being used for conservation planning by the wildlife authorities and varied stakeholders in Northern Kenya. Defining poaching hot spots has become very important now that poaching for ivory is on the rise, and our tracking data is also vital for planning wildlife corridors.

As we continue to raise funds essential to the STE rebuilding effort and continue our work, we thank you for again for thinking of us, and ask that you share our story with concerned friends and associates who may want to help.

Yours sincerely,

Iain Douglas-Hamilton and the STE Team!

To donate to STE’s rebuilding effort, for online donation in UK please access http://www.justgiving.com/ste-research-camp-floods

For US donations please access our Network for Good link here. (Please specify the donation is for “Save the Elephants” in the ‘Designation’ field.)

For all media inquiries please contact: Natalia Mroz: +254 (0)718 200952