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.

Much to our delight Ely seems to be sticking around. We've filmed and photographed him out in the western side of the Park. He is still with the families that spend time in Tanzania and hasn't yet met up with his birth family. We are so happy to see him again. He is very calm and seems to recognize my old Land Rover. He should--it was with him the day he was born and frequently for the next 10 years of his life.

Here are three photos of him looking handsome and then casual. In the third one he is dusting.

Soila, Norah and I went out together this morning. We knew there were big groups out west and in Longinye but we chose to go west. There in the tall elephant grass to the south of Lake Conch we found an aggregation of over 100 elephants consisting of several families and 10+ bulls. Trying to do censuses of the families was a nightmare, so at one point when it was totally impossible I said let's see if we can identify the bulls. We drove over to a group of four bulls who were sparring in the river. Norah knew three of them, but the fourth one appeared to be a stranger.

When the drought breaks in Africa, it doesn't mess around: we've had 69mm (just under 3 inches) since the New Year.

I just got word from Amboseli that the research camp received 30mm (over an inch) of rain last night. This is the first good rain that has fallen in the center of Amboseli since last April. More rains continue to fall outside the Park and there is already fresh, new grass for the wildlife in those areas. I think we can now say the drought is over.

We at the Amboseli Trust want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As Soila just reported we've had a little rain in Amboseli National Park and more outside so the situation is no longer dire. We are all hoping for more rain so that the habitat and the elephants can fully recover.

For many months now Elephant observation has been few with groups not exceeding more than fifteen individuals. More often than not we have been recording single Elephants even calves ranging from three and a half to five years old. The few that are seen are skinny, dull, weak and slowly dragging themselves desperately in search for food.

It rained in Amboseli yesterday, not much, only 2.4mm in the research camp, but there was much heavier rain to the east and south of the Park. This is good news because the animals will be able to feed in these areas once the grass starts coming up. We're hoping for more, but at least I can no longer say there hasn't been a drop of rain in Amboseli.

"Echo: Queen of the Elephants" is showing tonight at 8PM Eastern and Pacific time. Please watch it.