March Update: Everything is multiplying

We love to share at least quarterly updates with the occasional special news and alerts. Before we tell you all of the latest, though, we want to say a heartfelt thank you. We hope you recognize that your contributions have made our growth and accomplishments possible. Because of you, whether it has been from donations, advice, or friendship, we have made a significant impact on our community and, of course, 32 baby elephants that are in our care. Again, thank you and please know how much we appreciate you!

When last we wrote, we continued to battle dust and drought, a desiccated landscape, and a weak flood, which was proving to be difficult for our local community and devastating for the wildlife. (The annual flood-tide in Botswana is counted on for the life-saving water it provides to the ecosystem, unlike in the United States, where a flood is more often an unwelcome natural disaster.)

The flood that appeared in August had begun to recede rapidly and the rains were late. Very late. We left in early November ‘holding thumbs’ (as the locals say) that the rains were imminent and that the continued calls for rescues would subside. But the calls continued into November, and we only began to have the occasional cloudburst into December.

It was Christmas Eve before the first major rain, and by the time the dust had settled, we had a herd of 22 babies in our care at the main orphanage and another 10 that had graduated to the soft release. Whew! Since that late December cloudburst, the rains have continued. The entire property is a large 250 acres of elephant pasture, now with grasses rising above our knees and trees fully leafed out, plus natural rain ponds in numerous locations. Our babies are now all ambling about with bundles of fresh grass and brush hanging out of either side of their mouths.

At last report, we were in the midst of a housing shortage—for both staff and elephants. We solved the elephant housing shortage with newly built bomas, plus we have four vacant intensive care units that can be heated in the event we have need for that as winter approaches. The staff housing shortage continues, though, even with the new units built during the last capital improvement phase. But we hope to solve that in 2025! Remember the growth of the herd that we mentioned above? Well, with every new elephant, we employ two new caregivers who live on the orphanage grounds.

More news on the elephant front. Joy, our youngest rescue, was introduced to the herd in January to much elephant fanfare and real excitement among our 4-year-old (and up) female babies. These young ‘mothers’ never cease to amaze. It is so clear how they honor a little one like Joy and seemingly delight in her just as we do. She is one special little calf.

Joy and her “Mother” KT

Watch Joy meet the herd.

Other exciting news to report is that, thanks to a grant from our friends at Colossal Biosciences, a genetics and biosciences company (and more), we now have Dr. Caron Botes on staff as our full-time, on-site veterinarian. Dr. Botes has years of experience working with African wildlife, and elephants in particular, after having worked with the Abu elephant herd over the years. With her medicine and experience, coupled with the wisdom of our seasoned team of elephant handlers, we can proudly say that we have formidable expertise on hand to deal with babies, injuries, rescues, nutrition, and elephant behavior.

With Dr. Botes, we have immediate access when time is critical to a rescue. Each rescue event requires the presence of a veterinarian during all phases of that process. She also has our lab humming with new testing and monitoring, including critical baseline blood testing of many of the babies. This is allowing us to establish the “normal” blood composition where such information and records are deficient or are from small samples of captive animals.

And, when she is not busy with the herd or other wildlife, she operates the Elephant Havens initiatives to spay and neuter local pets and to tend to the medical needs of pets and livestock—as well as administering rabies and other vaccinations. Many hundreds of animals have benefitted from her tender care after just a few months on the job.

On the community front, we have two newer initiatives that are in progress now. Kay—our first female elephant handler—has been hard at work on the Ellie Hair Project. She has now completed three sessions at the Shorobe and Matsaudi Primary Schools, serving more than 100 of the most at-risk, underprivileged kids in those communities with fresh haircuts and braids.

We use all of our buses to bring the kids to a local salon in town for a day of hair styling and lunch. It is a genuine pleasure to see the entire group return Saturday afternoon with fresh coiffure and massive smiles after a day of respectful engagement with Kay’s team. She beams along with them. We are so very fortunate to have team members step up with the ideas and the initiative to bring the message to the communities that wildlife is truly an asset that gives back and is worthy of respect and protection.

The other project nearing completion is the renovation of the old toilet blocks at Shorobe Primary School, and the opening of an entire new toilet block. The school, now with over 400 learners, was served by just four outhouses. The completion of a new water well (a real gusher!) and the renovation of the two old toilet buildings now brings more than 20 toilets and sinks with fresh running water into the school.

And some more exciting news on the personnel front. Bee Poloko has, for some six years now, been the chief cook and bottle washer, supervising everything—maintenance, staff relations, rescues, governmental communication, hosting of guests and donors, dealing with the kitchens and housekeeping, capital projects, supplies, and, well, you name it. This was proving to be a lot, even for someone with Bee’s calm, organized judgment and superior competence in all things elephant and government and hospitality. Over these last years, staff grew from less than 10 to more than 50, the herd grew from one to more than 30, the physical land grew to over 1,200 acres from the original 10, and the hospitality side can now host 10 donors, where it was originally set up for only two.

So, in late 2024, we set out to find one or two people to take over some of these responsibilities. That search brought us Calistus Mbereki, Operations Manager, and Kea Karesaza, Assistant Operations Manager. Calistus and Kea have been absolutely brilliant additions to the project as we move into a high season for day-guest visits, expand community missions, increase staff, grow the hospitality on the donor side, and bring the 2024 capital projects on-line. It is Bee’s assessment (and ours) that these two bring absolute competence, enthusiasm and expertise to the project and provide much needed relief, back-up, and support to Mr. Poloko.

Calistus brings a wealth of experience from managing lodges in the bush, most recently Jack’s Camp after being trained in the Great Plains organization. And Kea brings her enthusiasm, fearlessness, and common sense to the job, helping Debra with reservations, guest movement, and a willingness to fill in wherever needed.

Before signing off here, we want to acknowledge another important development at Elephant Havens Botswana. As word of the project spreads, we have found that more and more donors want to be present at the orphanage, wake with the babies, attend the regular bottle feedings, and hang all day and night with the herd, the elephant handlers, and the rest of the delightful staff that live with us.

As the sun sets, you can also watch this tired lot of baby elephants make their way back to their bomas after a long day out in our reserve. We are pleased to offer the hospitality, and it fits nicely into the wonderful safari adventures that await one in Botswana. While at Elephant Havens, you may also experience life in rural Botswana in a way that one cannot when whisked away into the bush lodges directly from the airport in Maun.

It gives us great pleasure to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience at Elephant Havens. So, if you are planning a trip to Botswana, be sure to contact Debra for more information about staying in one of our five tents that we make available to donors.

And, as we said earlier, this report is only made possible by all of you, and to all of you we again offer a sincere thank you. It is crazy what you have facilitated during the brief time that Elephant Havens has been doing its good works.

With gratitude,
Scott, Debra, Bee and the (ever-growing) Elephant Havens Team