By Shivani Bhalla
Phd Researcher

We’ve been using camera traps in Westgate since February 2010 to capture images of the rare and elusive predators that roam Westgate at night. Over the past year, we have gathered quite a large collection of superb images of lion, leopard, spotted hyena (including one hyena who came and bit the camera trap which fortunately survived!) and even the extremely rare aardwolf and wild dogs.

The number of elephants in Westgate have increased recently and we have never seen so many as we are seeing now. Normally the bulls love this area but nowadays we are seeing numerous families as well.  Elephants are everywhere! The notorious Pretty Bom Bom is also around knocking over trees and causing chaos as usual. He was in our camp a few nights ago and knocked over 1 of the 4 trees we have.

The camera traps are now picking up elephants almost every night. We have 4 cameras we put out every night at various locations along a transect we cover daily. We have also dug 4 waterholes in the dry Ewaso Nyiro to provide water for wildlife and these prove to be perfect locations to set up the cameras. We have managed to gather images of bulls drinking and also families who are making the most of the water. We also have video now of elephants drinking, playing and splashing around.

I showed these videos to David Daballen and he was able to identify the elephants immediately. The Winds, Virtues and Shakespeare Ladies Families have all made an appearance at these waterholes. [During the day the holes are being used by livestock and people and at night, by elephants and other predators. Its interesting to see how during the day in Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves, elephants are all in the river drinking, however in Westgate, they are at the waterholes at night.

One day however, we went to collect one of the traps at the hole in the morning only to see it had vanished! We searched and sent a team of warriors out to look but did not find the trap. The only tracks we saw were of hyenas and elephants. I was convinced a hyena had taken the trap and was not amused to have lost it. We didn’t lose hope however and continued to send the guys out to search for it. Five days after the trap disappeared, the warriors found the trap! It was exactly 140 metres away from the trap site and was facing the sky -in fact it was still taking photos of the sky! I was surprised to see that the trap had not been damaged at all and doubted that it was a hyena that had taken it. We were thrilled to have found it  and immediately downloaded the photos. The camera trap thief turned out to be an elephant! He obviously did not want any more photos taken of himself and had gently picked up the camera, walked off with it and lay it down before wandering off. We’re just relieved to have the camera back and working well, capturing images of all these amazing animals.