buffalo kill
Category: Elephants | Date: May 06 2008 | By: admin
Another amazing experience in the forest. Guards came to camp the other day alerting me about an elephant carcass they found at the edge of the river just below the camp. All I could think of was more poaching. I hurried to have a look and there in the middle of the path at the water’s edge was an elephant which I estimated to be less than 15 months old. Its tusks had not yet emerged and in forest elephants tusks usually are visible after they are 18 months old. It was in good condition and it puzzled me as to what could have killed it. I then heard trumpeting and looked up river and saw what was probably its mother and an older sibling coming towards us. The mother was obviously upset at the death and this also explained why we had heard so many vocalizations the previous night. From my calculation the calf had died the day before between 17:00 and 23:00 so we could exclude poaching since we had heard no gunshots. Now with the mother bearing down on us,we backed off from the carcass and the guards continued on a patrol of the area.
No we had to figure a way to get the carcass out of the way since it was right in the middle of the path where tourists walked to the clearing. I thought with the number of people we had near by. If we could move the carcass a couple of meters into the river it would most likely float. The next morning we went to the river with about 10 people which included the local guard patrol and people from my camp. Because it had rained and the water level was up it was easy to move the elephant. As we turned the body over we saw that there were wound marks and they were in pairs so this explained how it was killed. It looked like a buffalo had gored the elephant calf twice leaving considerble puncture wounds. After it was wounded the calf had walked and probably bled considerably before collapsing and dying on the path.
So we pushed and heaved and finally the elephant was in about a meter of water and floated. Rather than leave it to its own devices we guided the elephant a couple of hundred feet where it was in the midst of the current and then allowed the river to gently take it away. It was a sad farewell as we stood and watched it disappear in a bend in the river.
In the bai we frequently see small elephant calves challenging buffalo. In most instances the buffalo back off but in this case the buffalo charged and the calf paid with its life.
Patrolling
More poaching in Dzanga!
Category: Elephants | Date: May 05 2008 | By: admin
Another incident at Dzanga on the night of April 18th. We heard the sound of gunshot again at about 18:30 and from the sound we knew it to be an AK47. This is the strategy where here the sun sets at 18:00 and the poachers act knowing that guard patrols will not to risk the danger of trying to find the poachers and shooting in the dark. The local guard patrol was dispatched immediately to the clearing and upon their return a few hours later they said that they could hear the poachers chopping away at the elephant in order to quickly remove the tusks.
The next day we went to the clearing and found the dead elephant at edge of the clearing where he had collapsed after being shot. He was a young male and was most likely shot in the clearing and then dashed about 50 meters before falling. Yesterday the odor of the rotting corpse permeated the clearing and was a grim reminder of the poaching. In the clearing however we were surprised to see about 30 elephants who although cautious remained in the clearing for the afternoon. Among the elephants was Rachid, an impressive one tusker, who was in musth and trying to guard Juno. Juno was skirting his advances and they made several passes in and out of the bai. The sexuality was infectious because another younger bull tried to copulate with a young female which resulted in a frenzy of vocalizations from the other elephants in the bai.
Later in the afternoon another bull arrived in musth. I had seen him a week ago when he came to the clearing and wasn’t able to identify him for lack of time. This time I could clearly see and sketch his ears and identified him as Clyde. He headed for the same hole he occupied last week and didn’t pick up on the Juno being in estrous.
Since the last poaching incident the elephants have remained calm and their numbers have increased despite the constant danger. Yesterday we observed 80 elephants in the clearing as well as bongo, buffalo, sitatunga and hylochere (Giant forest hog) who have been scavenging on the most recent elephant carcass.
I think what amazes me about Dzanga is how unforgiving these elephants can be or it may be more sinister, perhaps Dzanga is the safest place for them in the area and they have few choices about where to go.
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