The EB family is back together after nine months of separation. Echo died in May 2009; Ella and her eight left shortly before or after her death and were not seen for about four months. We have no idea where they went but it must have been an area with some food because when they did return to the Park they had not lost either of their young calves. Elettra’s calf born in 2008 and Emma’s born in 2009 were there. Over 40% of the calves born in this age group died in the other families.

I took a bit of film of Ely a few days after we discovered him (see our note here and click Read more below to see the clip).

Cristina and I flew down for the service in Oloitokitok last Saturday. Here are a couple of images to share.
The service was fine, as such things go. We arrived too late to hear the eulogy of Raymond's grad school friend, Scott Allen, but got the tail end of Mr. Githinji's thoughtful tribute.

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.