It is six weeks since Echo died. The family is still split into sub-units but there seems to be a pattern emerging.

Ella’s section of the family has not been seen. In fact, the records show that she left the area before Echo died. This kind of move is not unusual for Ella, but to stay away for this long is unexpected. Ella, who is Echo’s sister and is the oldest female remaining at 44 years old, forms a small sub-group of nine animals including her two daughters Emma and Elettra and their calves.

KWS chopper arrived Amboseli at around 10 am in the morning to purposely fly KWS and ATE officials over the apparently impassable swampy perimeter surrounding Kalume’s body. The 6-seater chopper had to make two trips to complete the exercise. The first trip was to take in KWS officials together with their tools to uproot the tusks while Soila and I were on the other side awaiting the second trip.

It is with sad emotions that I regret to announce the death of Kalume – born in 1965 and one of the best known and studied bulls by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. To be honest, I have mixed emotions toward Kalume's death. As fate would have it, it is hard for a bull of his quality to spend his entire life time and finally to die from a disease or other natural cause, in this world of inexorable hunters targeting old big bulls, claiming that they have already surpassed their 'prime time' and are no good for breeding any more.

A world renowned wildlife artist known as BAS made a beautiful painting of Echo last year which is now available in limited edition prints.This artwork is part of the Echo Project which is a collaboration between the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and The Art of BAS. Funds raised through the sale of the Original Oil Painting and its associated Fine Art Canvas Limited Edition reproductions will benefit the valuable work of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.

Adam [the AA family unit boy] was born in 1968, son to Alyce, who was born in 1950 and died in 1979, and he had a brother born in 1979 but died same year – which might have been due to his mother's death. Adam and his sister Amelia – born in 1973 – are the only survivors in their nuclear family. Amelia is doing quite well with a family of 7 (There's Anghared – first born female, Abel – second born male, Ann – third born female, and Ava – fifth born female.

The EBs are still not together, sometimes Enid and Eleanor come together but only stick for some time. Ella's whereabouts are still unknown, but we hope she is safe and staying out of trouble. It is very dry in the entire ecosystem and most of the elephants are outside the park. Edwina and her calves are not moving far, they are always in Oltukai Orok, where the Elephant Research Camp is situated. Eliot who is "mama" to all orphans, spends most her time with Esprit and Eudora spends most of the time with Elspeth and their calves.

As Echo's family continues to mill around rather aimlessly in several small groups, I thought I'd share a couple of images of her and the story of how she got the bump on her bottom.

The 13-part Animal Planet series on the Amboseli elephants and the work of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants premiered in Australia and New Zealand today (19 May). If you are in either of these countries and missed the first episodes it is being re-broadcast several times over the next week. Here is the link for the schedule: http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/tv-schedule/?type=series&country_code=...