St. Nick

St. Nick. Collared 28 March 2003, in Wali Bai, Kabo logging concession, south of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, northern Congo.

As usual, the collaring team was up and off at 5:00am. Half an hour later, we were at the edge of the Wali Bai, an exquisite shallow lake of crystal clear water containing beds of lush green algae surrounded by fire-red leaves of Lophira alata trees. There were no elephants in the bai, and by 8.30 the sun was well up and it looked like the morning was going to be slow. Sharon Deem, the WCS field vet, myself, and the pygmy team decided to return to camp and wit until evening – the preferred time for elephants to visit the bai. As an afterthought we left a satellite telephone with a second vet, Robin Radcliffe, who wanted to stay at the bai taking photos of birds and other wildlife.

We leisurely walked back to camp (the HQ of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park) and had breakfast. Half way through a cup of coffee, the phone rang!! It was Robin! There was a beautiful bull in the middle of the bai enjoying the sun. We couldn’t believe it, and hurredly gulping down out coffee, grabbed the dart gun, equipment and headed back down the trail at a trot. Twenty-five minutes later (the walk usually takes 45!) we approached the bai and amazingly he was still there. Sharon got into position behind a tiny shrub, and fired. The dart really surprised him, and for the next five minutes he was looking angrily for the culprit. Sharon remained motionless behind her shrub – only 25m from the angry 4 ton elephant. Eventually he calmed down, and ambled off into the forest.

St. Nick has so far been the most sedentary of the elephants collared to date in Nouabalé-Ndoki, preferring to remain close to Wali Bai, and unfortunately, the village of Bomassa where he is a crop raider in the local fields. This is both the success and scourge of effective conservation. For 30 years, ever since the arrival of automatic weapons and elephant guns, elephants had not been seen within several kilometres of Bomassa, due to the uncontrolled and heavy poaching. Since the WCS led conservation project was installed and poaching has significantly declined, elephants have become increasingly bold, and today feel safe and comfortable in fields behind the village, and indeed even in the village. This brings the problem of damage to crops, and even  people’s houses. WCS is currently working on immediate and longer-term solutions to this problem in Ndoki and elsewhere in Africa. 

To see St. Nick's ranging behaviour click on the following link: St. Nick's Map