For 3 days in July 2010, Saadani buzzed with the prospect of a new era of elephant understanding in the park. Some of the most experienced expects in the country gathered on the evening of 19th, ready to commence a short, sharp campaign to collar 5 elephants in three days across Saadani, then move to Wami Mbiki, some 100km to the West, to collar a further 12 elephants.
The exercise was a considerable one, with three teams, on foot and in vehicles, to initially find signs of, and to make visual contact with the animals.
There were two fixed wing aircraft used to follow up on GPS co-ordinates sent by the ground teams, and finally, there was the helicopter – the star of the show – which took in the expert team to dart and collar the elephants. The helicopter is crucial to an operation such as this, because it not only allow us perfect positioning for darting, but also controls the animals once the dart is administered.
The target animal has to be separated from the rest of the herd. It then has to be followed closely, and prevented from entering heavy bush, if possible. The helicopter, with the right pilot, is usually able to do this. There is also a danger from other members of the herd once the team is on the ground to put the collar on, and here again the helicopter is very useful, taking off to check that no other elephants have come looking for the darted animal.
