Kylie Butler

International Intern

Smatterings of rain and one impressive dawn thunderstorm have proven a successful (if inconvenient) elephant deterrent thus halting sound experiments for the last three days. The one family that didn’t appear to mind was the First Ladies. Two days ago Lucy, Joseph and I, found the quirky Martha painted a lovely shade of mud-orange and happily munching branches, oblivious to the fact that all other elephants had vacated.

On the look-out for a lucky resting elephant family to play vocalization recordings to, we had a call from Chris to say he’d received news an elephant was down near the Isiolo River. We immediately thought ‘another Resilience’ but when we arrived at the river found a poor, exhausted elephant stuck neck deep in the muddy river bed, with her calf looking on anxiously from the banks. Along with two vans of tourists, getting a more exciting experience than your average safari, we gathered branches to construct a sort-of platform to help the elephant find firmer ground and leverage out of the water. It didn’t exactly go according to that plan, but the noise and flying branches seemed to disturb her enough to provide motivation to keep struggling. Eventually she made it safely to higher ground. It was a fantastic feeling to have a happy elephant rescue story.

The absence of elephants provided a good opportunity to visit Lucy’s beehive fences today, and check the camera traps that have been set-up in various positions over the last month. A brief look didn’t reveal any night-time elephant raids but there were some very entertaining children singing and dancing for the cameras. It was really interesting to see the hives, and great to see maize and onion crops growing within the fence. The recent rain has encouraged more bees to the area so hopefully more hives will soon be occupied and harvesting honey. I find the fact that an animal as small as a bee can deter elephants from an area fascinating.

And then tonight, we were lucky enough to see the first flows of water trickling down the river near the research camp. We walked up the sandy river bed to meet the water, which is slowly creating its pathway, gurgling and softly flowing down at this very minute. It was quite magical and gentle and serene to watch, with the sun setting behind the trees. Elephants, or no elephants, every day here nature provides something new and beautiful and exciting to experience.