CROSS COUNTRY

Translocating elephants is no mean feat-but it's helping this iconic mammal to reclaim its historic lands

- JIM TAN

THE AIR TINGLES WITH NERVOUS excitement as Alex Oelofse, owner of Okonjati Game Reserve in Namibia, lifts off in a helicopter. Hanging out the side, dart gun at the ready, is vet Hans Reuter, whose sights are set firmly on the elephants below. As the chopper approaches, the animals tense then flee, kicking up a cloud of dust in the golden morning light.

It's August 2024 and the elephants are destined for a new life north of the border. Okonjati's elephant population has grown to double what the land can sustain, a situation exacerbated by six years of drought, and several family groups need to be relocated. Finding a new home for the herd has proved difficult. In much of the species' range, space for elephants has been squeezed to the limit, and burgeoning human and elephant populations increasingly come into conflict.

"Culling isn't really an option, we'd really rather move them," says Alex. "But at some point, you need to make a decision - how are you going to manage the herd before they destroy everything?"

Just as time and options were running out, Alex heard that Cuatir Conservation Area, a private conservation project in south-east Angola, was looking for elephants. Made up of 20,000ha of pristine wilderness nestled in the crook of the Cubango River - a tributary of the Okavango that feeds into the Okavango Delta Cuatir had ideal elephant habitat but with no elephants. It was the perfect solution.

THE CHALLENGE WOULD BE actually getting the elephants there. Cuatir is only 800km from Okonjati but, with the condition of the roads on the Angolan side of the border, not to mention the river crossings, translocation would be very difficult, to say the least.