Total Aerial Count Of Elephants In Samburu-laikipia Ecosystem: June 2002. (2002)

The total aerial count of elephants in Laikipia/Samburu ecosystem was carried out between 20th and 24th of June 2002, During the census, total counts of elephants, elephant carcasses and buffaloes was done. Livestock numbers (cattle and shoats) were estimated. As a MIKE site the count provided baseline data for monitoring poaching levels and elephant trends in the ecosystem. A total of 5,447elephants were counted during the survey (2,206 or 40.5% in Samburu and 3,241 or 59.5% in Laikipia). The overall increase since 1999 in the entire ecosystem was 58.5%. The number of carcasses counted was 64 with only one being fresh and three recent while the rest were old or very old. The carcass ratio for the ecosystem was 1.16% - a decline as compared to 1999 (2.8%), however the percentage of recent carcasses rose from 6% to 6.25% (1999 and 2002 respectively).