The 150 elephants being relocated to Quiçama National Park have been kindly donated by the Botswana Government and will come from the Tuli Block area within that country.

The name 'Tuli Block' refers to a vast expanse of land measuring 350 kilometers from the north to the south and 20 kilometers wide. Tuli is one of the few areas within Botswana where private freehold land can be owned and the block encompasses a number of private reserves including Mashatu Game Reserve. This wilderness region encompasses the magnificent Limpopo River which, together with the Sashe River, forms its eastern boundary. The western boundary is fenced in parts.

Botswana itself is home to over 100 000 elephants which have a large degree of freedom to migrate to different regions. Tuli, on the other hand, is mostly contained and its elephants do not migrate. As the elephant populations in Tuli increase, so does the pressure on the local vegetation.

One hundred and fifty fewer elephants in Tuli will alleviate the problem to some degree and Operation Noah's Ark will be relocating 75 elephants in each of its two stages.

About Elephants:

Description
Elephants, the giants of the bush, don't need much of an introduction. Worldwide most people know what an elephant looks like and with its huge size and formidable appearance, it is not surprising.

The elephant has an extremely thick (30 - 40 mm), grey-brown skin and is often referred to as a 'pachyderm' because of this. The huge head holds two equally huge ears and a set of tusks. The tusks are actually elongated upper incisor teeth and have, so far, caused much trouble for this gentle giant from ruthless ivory poachers.

Behaviour
Elephants are social creatures and live in close family groups of an adult female, her offspring and female relatives with their offspring. A dominant female, or matriarch, will lead the herd. Bull elephants will join the herd when there are females in oestrus.

While normally calm and peaceful, elephants can be highly aggressive when threatened or injured. The sight of an elephant storming towards one with its ears flapping is a sight one will never forget. Bulls rarely involve in serious fighting and deaths from encounters are scarce.

The elephant's eyesight is not very acute and they rely mainly on their keen sense of smell, raising their trunks and testing the air at the first sign of danger.

An elephant's gestation period is almost two years long and care of the young elephant after birth is intensive. The mother will assist her baby in climbing over obstacles, bathing and dust bathing.

History
By 1903 elephants were almost extinct in southern Africa, due primarily to the bustling ivory trade, which exported in excess of 1 000 000 lbs of ivory each year. Coupled with indiscriminate hunting, the elephants were in dire trouble. Thankfully game protection laws came into effect soon enough and the elephant made a remarkable recovery. So much so, in fact, that their management must be carefully controlled to ensure that over population and habitat destruction does not occur. While still not occurring in many areas of its former range, the elephant is once more flourishing in Africa.