The past couple of days have revolved around the bleak but necessary task of locating and identifying injured or dead elephants. Recently I travelled to the relatively close Shaba Reserve in search of an elephant that was reported to have a spear in its chest. Unfortunately, due to the abundance of cattle and herders in the Reserve, the elephants had been scared deep into the thicket. Without the aid of aerial support we were unable to confirm the validity of the report.
Camp Manager David was off for a week to investigate the deaths of several elephants in the surrounding area. His trip South to Mlango confirmed two poached elephants. He was also able to locate another poached elephant North East of Isiolo town. This marks a continued effort of Save the Elephants assisting the Kenya Wildlife Service in their MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme, to ascertain the cause of death of all the elephants in the region. I cannot help but be surprised and alarmed by the high number of elephants that have been poached in my short time here.