The EB family is back together after nine months of separation. Echo died in May 2009; Ella and her eight left shortly before or after her death and were not seen for about four months. We have no idea where they went but it must have been an area with some food because when they did return to the Park they had not lost either of their young calves. Elettra’s calf born in 2008 and Emma’s born in 2009 were there. Over 40% of the calves born in this age group died in the other families.

I took a bit of film of Ely a few days after we discovered him (see our note here and click Read more below to see the clip).

Cristina and I flew down for the service in Oloitokitok last Saturday. Here are a couple of images to share.
The service was fine, as such things go. We arrived too late to hear the eulogy of Raymond's grad school friend, Scott Allen, but got the tail end of Mr. Githinji's thoughtful tribute.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some before and after the drought photos. These were taken from the verandah of my tent in late October and in January. What a difference some rain makes. I am always amazed at how resilient African savannahs are. Part of Echo's family, the EBs, are in the after picture.

I am attaching a PDF file of my annual report to donors and friends of ATE. It was a very difficult year for all of us, but things are definitely looking up in terms of environmental conditions for the elephants. Their security is another matter, and we are very concerned about poaching and the illegal ivory trade.