Mali Elephants

Chengeta Wildlife has worked with WILD Foundation and the Mali Elephant Project to provide training, mentoring and other assistance to rangers in the Gourma area since 2016.

Mali is a beautiful, landlocked desert country in northwestern Africa. Perhaps best known for its rich cultural diversity, Mali is also home to the most northerly elephant herd in living in one of the harshest environments in the world, the arid Sahel.

Each year the Malian elephant undertakes a vast migration – circumscribing an area of over 32,000 square kilometers between the Niger river on the north to the Burkina Faso/Mali border in the south.

Their migration pattern is a result of the elephants’ need to access seasonal resources to ensure their survival. The elephants spend 95% of their time in specific “concentration areas” of key resources (water, food and refuge) and the rest of the time moving rapidly between them.

The Gourma elephants in Mali are a desert-adapted species of elephants (Loxodonta africana) and are one of the last remaining populations of these desert-adapted elephants in the world, with the other population to be found in Namibia in Southwest Africa. These desert elephants are not a sub-species of elephant but are savanna elephants who have adapted to live in desert environments. They are much larger in stature than the forest elephants (Loxodanta cyclotis) who reside in the dense forests of central Africa.

These remarkable elephants frequently endure sandstorms, water shortages, and temperatures over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). A severe drought in 2009 dried out Lake Banzena completely, depriving the elephants of one of their key watering points.

The Gourma elephants have historically enjoyed relatively peaceful coexistence with the local Touareg, Fuhlani and Dogon peoples. Until recently these groups mainly practiced pastoralism but are now beginning to settle and turning to agriculture. Conflict between humans and elephants is increasing as a result.