peacefull, and patient scenes for the BBC…

peacefull, and patient scenes for the BBC…

Category: Milgis lugga, Water holes, elephants | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: milgistrust

I have been told several times by people who used to come to the Milgis Lugga, in the old days , that in their opinion the place is finished… meaning there is no hope for the place… The wild life has been shot out, the place is over grazed… Well I don’t think the BBC will say that, and I think that it is the work of the Milgis scouts that is making the difference…… The story is how Elephants and Humans need each other to survive, and it is part of the Human Planet story… I can’t wait to tell you all, when it is going to be on air… Who said there was no Elephants in the Milgis… We have lots of proof!… Our filming for the last couple of weeks has been brilliant… Absolutely beautiful scenes, in the moon light, of Elephants, coming in thirsty, and tired, even sometimes going into a run as they get closer to the water… Young ones being left behind, as they are to too weary to run… On arrival one would expect a bun fight over the water… But no way.. the scenes around the wells have been completely orderly with peaceful groups or lone bulls, taking there time.. If they are lucky to find a well that is not too deep to reach the water, they all stand around, and wait, each one gets his turn..Its just such a beautiful sight.. Even more amazing is when they have to dig for water, they dig abit with their foot, and then they put their trunk into the deepest part, and draw and throw the sand out, just a hole big enough to fit their trunk in, then when they get to water, they wait for sometimes 40/50 seconds, while the water sifts through the sand, and their trunk fills up…Not only Elephants and humans helping each other but every animal in the area, then comes in to drink from the hole the Elephants have left…

Elephants Drinking hole…

The Elephants, and therefore the rest of the wildlife, are doing very well considering the drought, our scouts are working extremely hard to keep the wells open, we are really trying… but today we have sad news… 4 elephants have been found dead.. One is up in the Matthews mountains and has been speared, it has a calf of about two years old.. which is still there, its an impossible place to get to and its a sad scene, another one has been found here on the upper Milgis, it is a youngster, that didn’t make it.. The other two is a mother and calf, down in the lower Milgis..The local communities around heard a little tiny calf calling and calling, so eventually they braved it and went into the thick bush to find the mother was dieing, and had fallen onto her new born calf.. They were too scared to get close and eventually both died…

But on a positive note, considering how harsh this drought is becoming, most of the Elephants are surviving, pretty well… And there is alot of heavy cloud around today… So we hope for lots of good news tomorrow morning…

4 Responses to “peacefull, and patient scenes for the BBC…”

Anna M, on 10 Oct 2009

Something to look forward to on the BBC one day, you describe it beautifully, as for the Elephants, there was a time (and hopefully still is in some parts) that people and elephants benefited and helped each other in many ways, these stories and today’s example must not disappear, we need to be reminded and understand what we need to conserve. During the drought you’ve worked very hard on keeping the people and wildlife a float, thank you to all the rangers and the Trust..

Pirjo,Finland, on 11 Oct 2009

Thank you Helen for bringing us the news from the northern parts of Kenya. Every single day I check the weather forecast for Kenya for twenty different areas and pray that I see clouds and rain. Even though I’m far away from where you are experiencing this terrible drought, I’m very worried for the wildlife and how it will be able to survive. It’s so sad to hear these stories of baby elephants not having a chance to survive.. Thank you for being there and making a difference.

Mary E, on 11 Oct 2009

What a lovely description of the elephants, and we will look forward to the programme on the BBC. We have been praying for rain for you, and Sally tells us that prayers have been answered. We hope all is good with Pete and with you. Tell Pete that we go to Australia to see Bill in five short weeks’ time!! We will pass on his greetings cousin to cousin.

Mark Deeble, on 12 Oct 2009

What great news about the rain and what amazing work the Milgis Trust is doing. I couldn’t believe the number of elephants we saw and were able to film. It is real proof that the Trust is being effective ( we saw probably 50x more elephant in the Milgis in ten days than I have seen in the last ten years). Not only that, but the other wildlife - the hyenas, desert warthog, somali ostrich, jackals and kudu were all so much more numerous and approachable. When there is so much bad news out there, you guys and the scouts represent a glimmer of light. The Trust’s work is benefiting community and conservation alike and should be a role model for the NFD. I know funding is always tight and uncertain - but you should be so proud of what you are achieving!

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