Collaring by Helen Mylne

Wow, what an experience! Working with Elephants for Africa to help collar these bulls was one of the most exciting days of my life; and I can’t wait to see what the data shows. As we set out in the morning, I had no idea of what to expect; or even if I would get the chance to help out at all. Being on the ground team meant that we were entirely dependent on the elephant moving in a favourable direction as to whether or not we would be able to get close enough in the car to safely join the collaring, and for the first bull that was sadly not the case. He was in thick brush far from the road and we were unable to get close. I sat in the back of the car trying not to be too disappointed while telling myself that we still had two chances left. I hoped that the next one would stay somewhere that we could reach. Once we finally got the call to approach the elephant, I’ve never had to cling on so hard as we were bounced around hitting every bump in order to get there in time. But once we got there it was definitely worth it!

Helping with the collaring, seeing how we measure everything and having the opportunity to really look at these beautiful animals up close was incredible. Feeling the pulse in the arteries of their ears while we poured water over them to keep him cool. Hearing them snore through a nose longer than I am tall. Being able to place a hand on a living breathing wild elephant and realise just how small and insignificant you are in comparison. A truly magical experience. There were also things I’d just never considered: how do you get a collar strap underneath an elephant’s neck when the head is far heavier than any number of us stand a chance at lifting? And even when you do get through, it can’t go fully underneath the elephant, but rather between the neck and ear or you’ll end up strapping their ear to the side of their head – he’s not going to be happy about that! I discovered that the reality involves digging a tunnel underneath the elephant to push the ear down into, leaving a space large enough to push a wire through with the strap attached to the back of it. Can safely say that no one who cares about having nice nails should ever attempt to collar an elephant – digging by hand through hard packed soil isn’t going to do a lot for them!

The only part of the whole experience that I would love to have changed would have been to be able to see through the brush to see them stand up again at the end. However, even once the collaring was over, the whole experience wasn’t. The next day we headed out with the telemetry to start looking for our big boys. On the first attempt we were able to get close enough to two of them to pick up the signal from their collars, but unfortunately we weren’t able to actually see them. The next day however we found two of them, and it was so great to see them back to their normal daily lives, interacting with other males, and all the while providing valuable data that will help us to understand the intricacies of their lives better.