Saving Mali's Migrating Desert Elephants

Eco-guardians spread the word to the Tuareg villagers, “The elephants are coming.”

- Colette Weil Parrinello

Many villagers already know. They will stay out of the thick bushes and trees so they don’t surprise the elephants. Villagers believe that when the elephants come, the land and life are healthy. The elephants are baraka—a blessing to the people and environment of Mali’s Gourma region.

Once there were many thousands of Gourma Desert elephants, but now, there are fewer than 400. The elephants live under constant threat from droughts, militant violence, poachers who want their tusks, loss of water from expanding herds and farms, and encroaching human settlement. Through the dedicated efforts of the Mali people and many worldwide organizations, the elephants have a fighting chance to survive.

The Elephants’ Extraordinary Journey

Every year for hundreds of years, the elephants walk a 350-mile circular migration route in northern Mali, moving around back and forth within the route. This is the longest, most treacherous trek of an elephant in the world. These tough animals brave sandstorms, water shortages, and extreme heat of more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

They inhabit a 12,400-square-mile range across the harsh land south of the Sahara Desert in the Gourma region. Following a counterclockwise route, the elephants spend their time in the dry season in the north of the range, moving between lakes and rivers as each dries out. In June when the rains start, they move southwards to the border Mali shares with the country of Burkina Faso because the food supply is better. But there are no lakes or surface water, so when the rains stop and the water dries out, they continue back north.