THE MAASAI TO MAKE PEACE WITH ELEPHANTS

Ezekiel Ole Katato

July 16, 2023

ELEPHANTS; The un-invited guest in my village – Thirsty and hungry elephants enter my village looking for water and food. The elephants turn up in water pans and boreholes and villagers flee away in fear; they enter into homes and eat hay meant for weak cattle; they meet children walking to school or grazing cattle in the bush and they all run back home. A devastating drought forced elephants out Amboseli national park where very many of them have already died.

One early morning in June I woke up and found elephant footprints around my home. I could not believe my eyes because I have not seen elephants in my village in over 50 years. I followed the footprints and after one hour I found them in the bush. Negative stories spread in the village that elephants kill people, destroy water pans and boreholes. Villagers called each other about the elephants and fear spread in the village. Parents started to escort their children to school, women feared to go out in the bush to collect firewood and all movements in the village restricted –No going out of villages from 6pm to 6am.

WHY ARE ELEPHANTS COMING TO THE VILLAGES?

It is because of a devastating drought that has lasted four years. Amboseli national park, which is the only park in the larger Kajiado Maasai County, is 392 Kilometer squared, translating to 39,206 hectares while Kajiado County is 21,293 kilometers squared translating to 2,129,300 hectares. So Amboslei national park is very small and elephants move out of the park to escape death because water and grass resources get depleted very quickly.

These are some of the things villagers experience when elephants are in the village

Elephant enter into homes to eat hay meant for weak cattle

A man climbs a tree to get green shrubs for his weak cattle but one morning he found the tree felled by elephants and all the green shrubs eaten.

SO WHAT DO WE DO AS VILLAGERS?

There are only two options available for us

Option 1 - Drive elephants back to national parks and we have tried this several times and it has failed. We call Kenya Wildlife Services to shoot in the air to scare them away but after two days the elephants come back; they use a helicopter to scare them away but after a few days the elephants come back and you can understand because there is no water and food at national parks.

Option 2 - Allow elephants into our land and find a way for villagers to benefit from the elephants. If you remove the road network, towns and cities that has been built in our Kajiaido Maasai County, we have 1.2 million hectares of land available that we can share with elephants. In my village alone 5,466 hectares of land is available and personally, I have 254 hectares of land available. – It is only a question us sitting down, agreeing and organizing ourselves

BUT THERE ARE SEVERAL STEPS TO ACHIEVE THIS Pumping water for elephants

Ole Katato provides diesel at the community borehole to pump underground water for elephants to stop them from destroying the borehole and reduce the conflicts between them. A video on this is available.

The Maasai To Make Peace With Elephants

A Maasai elder to perform a peace ritual to welcome elephants into Maasai land and calm them down to be friendly top villagers. A video on this is available.

The Peace Declaration Ceremony

20,000 rural Maasai children to come together to create a portrait in the shape of an elephant and photographed from an aerial view in nature’s beautiful landscape. Maasai elders will formally pronounce the peace in this ceremony. The children to plant 20,000 trees at the portrait site to create a bush in the shape of an elephant.

THE PEACE DECLARATION TO FOCUS ON TWO CRITICAL ISSUES

The full Maasai commitments to allow elephants into their land

Tangible benefits to community

The full peace declaration and tangible benefits document available on our website www.savemaasaielephants.com