At the 26th ESRI User Conference 2006, Save the Elephants was awarded The Special Achievement in GIS Award by Jack Dangermond.
During the award presentation, Jack the President and founder of ESRI hailed Save the Elephants for the highly successful GIS program in Kenya, noting that is amongst the best success stories in conservation. In particular he hailed the demo by Save the Elephants on tracking elephants in Northern Kenya. Prior to receiving the Award, Festus Ihwagi attended a two weeks instructor led advanced training in GIS from ESRI courtesy of the Society for Conservation GIS International.