Save the Elephants
Save the Elephants aims to secure a future for elephants and sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live.
Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton and his wife, Oria, have earned their reputation as the foremost authorities on the African elephant. These two are real pioneers who lived in the bush with elephants long enough to begin to understand their secrets. They've co-authored two award-winning books about their adventures, Among the Elephants and Battle for the Elephants.
Iain Douglas-Hamilton was the first to alert the world to the ivory poaching crisis. He chronicled how Africa's elephant population was halved between 1979 and 1989 and helped bring about the world ivory trade ban.
Save the Elephants believes the future of the elephant is best supported by the following four pillars:
Research & Conservation
Save the Elephants supports vital research on elephant behavior and ecology and has pioneered GPS radio tracking in Africa to provide fresh insight into elephants' ways of life. By understanding elephant needs and movements, they approach conservation from an elephant's perspective.
Protection
Save the Elephants assists wildlife departments in their fight against ivory traders and poachers. They protect and monitor elephants with aerial surveillance and early warning systems for poaching. A renewed ivory trade remains the greatest potential threat to elephants.
Grassroots Education
Save the Elephants involves local people in research and education to develop a conservation ethic based on local knowledge and elephant needs. They believe the best potential ambassadors for elephants are the people with whom they share their land.
Global Communication
Elephants are intelligent creatures with complex levels of consciousness. Save the Elephants brings this to the world's attention by disseminating the information locally and internationally through films, publications, a digital elephant library, a news service and their website: www.savetheelephants.org.
Deeper Africa guests have the unique opportunity to join Save the Elephants field researchers in their daily observations of the resident herds in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Lodging is at the unique camp owned by the Douglas-Hamiltons called Elephant Watch. Samburu offers shelter to 66 family units and approximately 100 bulls, numbering 750 elephants in total. A contribution is made by each Deeper Africa guest to the Elephant Fund projects in Kenya, which support a women’s workshop, a bees and trees project, and educational scholarships for Kenyan students.