On a hot afternoon in northern Kenya, Purity Milgo, a research and tracking officer at Save the Elephants’ (STE) camp in Samburu National Reserve, studies a computer screen dotted with colorful elephant icons and lines. It may look playful, but this is no game — each icon represents a real elephant in the wild, fitted with a GPS tracking collar and monitored in real time via EarthRanger, a protected area management system spanning Africa.
A satellite ‘ping’ has arrived from Arden — a collared elephant from a herd named the Royals — who is making her way across Samburu’s arid plains with her family. She’s returning to the reserve after an epic journey out west to Oldonyiro — 150 kilometers away.
Purity logs Arden’s arrival and alerts the long-term monitoring team, who will locate the family in the field to ensure all members are accounted for and in good health.
Analyzing movement data like this is a vital part of our mission to safeguard elephants in a fast-changing world. Arden’s journey, however, is more than just a data point — it’s a bigger story of survival and the increasingly complex relationship between elephants and people in modern Africa.
For decades, African elephants have been under pressure from poaching, shrinking habitats, and, increasingly, conflict with people. As human populations grow and expanding infrastructure cuts off their ancient migration routes — fueling further tension — there is an urgent need to rethink development in a way that allows both humans and wildlife to coexist and thrive.
Elephants as ecosystem engineers
Elephants shape landscapes in ways that support biodiversity. Their movements create migration corridors which link between ecosystems to disperse seeds, and maintain healthy ecosystems. A world without elephants could have profound ecological consequences, from declining biodiversity to worsening impacts driven by climate change.
Expanding infrastructure like roads, major highways, towns and railways is fragmenting habitats, making human-elephant conflict an increasing challenge. For example in Oldonyiro, where Arden recently traveled, a key corridor linking Samburu to Laikipia has been nearly severed by the town’s growth. Elephants here tend to travel at night, walking faster to avoid people, and face perilous crossings through deep erosion gullies. These routes can be fatal, particularly for calves.
Science and innovation
Save the Elephants, a science-driven conservation organisation based in Kenya, has been at the forefront of elephant research and protection for over 30 years. Using tracking collars and cutting-edge technology including AI, high-end drones, the STE WildTracks app and EarthRanger software, we have become a voice for elephants, collecting data on elephant movement which helps identify critical habitats, migratory corridors, and conflict hotspots. This data is shared with governments, development planners, and local communities to inform land-use planning decisions.
STE’s research feeds directly into national planning, from advising Kenya’s National Highways Authority on where to build wildlife underpasses, to providing critical insights for mega-projects, such as the proposed six lane Nairobi-Mombasa expressway.
We want elephants to be part of the conversation when new roads or major developments are planned. Since they can’t be at the table, the data we collect serves as a powerful and factual voice.
Data-driven conservation
Understanding how and why elephants move requires long-term, accurate data — and tracking them is just the beginning.
To safeguard elephant corridors, we teamed up with the Wyss Academy for Nature and local communities. Together, we’re working to keep crucial corridors like the Oldonyiro passageway open in northern Kenya and ensure safe passage for the hundreds of elephants that traverse these wild spaces each year.
Together we’ve invested in specialized research, jointly funding MSc and postdoctoral researchers to examine the effectiveness of community-led corridor protection in northern Kenya, global conservation strategies, and the long-term impact of climate change on elephant habitats in the next 100 years.
STE has directly engaged more than a thousand community members in northern Kenya to help protect the corridors. Eight key corridors are on track for being protected under Kenyan law. Seven out of the targeted ten corridors are now demarcated with 164 visible markers.
The corridors are closely monitored by the Mama Tembos – women chosen by their communities and supported by Save the Elephants to patrol and defend both wildlife and livestock routes.
Further south, in partnership with the Wildlife Research and Training Institute and Kenya Wildlife Service, we have employed a dedicated monitoring team to analyze how elephants and other wildlife respond to the Nairobi-Mombasa railway which cuts through the heart of the Tsavo ecosystem. This data is an important addition to the GPS tracking of select elephants in Tsavo, shedding light on how these intelligent animals are learning to navigate underpasses and crossings.
Kenya, having established itself as a pioneer in the fight against poaching and the ivory trade, now has a unique opportunity to pursue development without sacrificing its natural heritage. Protecting key habitats — and ensuring they remain connected through intact wildlife corridors — is essential to achieving that balance.
Partnerships for the planet
Elephants don’t recognize national borders. That’s why we collaborate with partners across the continent through our Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF), a joint venture between STE and the Wildlife Conservation Network. Since 2013, the ECF has granted more than $3.5M to 30 different grantees in 44 countries, addressing ivory trafficking, habitat loss, and the protection of elephant populations.
The situation for elephants across Africa varies greatly from ecosystem to ecosystem. Through the Elephant Crisis Fund, Save the Elephants has helped elephants in the forests and savannas across the continent. From anti-poaching to landscape planning, the ECF’s partners are creating a sustainable future for elephants. In some areas the elephants have been brought back from the very brink of extinction to a point where they now have the potential to repopulate huge, wild landscapes.
To help map and understand elephant movements, STE’s WildTracks app — a specialized tool built from decades of tracking wild African elephants — is currently used by 22 conservation partners across Africa. The app reveals their daily and seasonal patterns and helps guide continental-wide conservation strategies.
A call to action
The fate of elephants is a powerful barometer for the health of Africa’s ecosystems and the sustainability of its development. Their protection requires global cooperation, funding, and policy integration at every level — from local governments to international regulatory bodies.
For elephants like Arden, collaboration isn’t optional — it’s essential. Their journeys reflect more than survival; they echo the choices we face as a planet. Their corridors – sometimes blocked, sometimes open – mirror the crossroads we now face. The decisions we make today about infrastructure development, conservation, and coexistence will determine whether elephants continue to walk these lands for generations to come.
To learn more or support Save the Elephants’ work, visit: savetheelephants.org