Students of Kunchu Primary School in Amboseli, Kenya, had just gone outside for lunch when they rushed back in to tell their teacher, Betty Silantoi, that there were elephants right next to the school fence.
Betty grabbed her phone from the classroom just in time to capture the incredible moment.
“I allowed the pupils to go for lunch, then two minutes later, they were back running, 'teacher, elephants are near the fence!’” recalls Betty.
"Then I remembered I’d just left my phone in class. I picked it up and ran to where the elephants were. We had 10 minutes of a [wildlife] park within the school. It was beautiful.”
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While an awe-inspiring and exciting experience, coming face-to-face with a wild elephant while on foot comes with its risks. Elephants are the world’s largest land animal, with adult bulls standing up to 3m high and weighing up to 6,000kg, so if they’re surprised or feel threatened, they could charge and risk hurting people or themselves.
In this case though, the students were safe to watch the elephants from behind a solar-powered electric fence, installed around the school by WWF-Kenya.
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“They were very close to the fence, and because of the fence, we never feared to go near because we knew we were protected,” adds Betty. “So, we were able to see the elephants at a very close range.”
In the neighbouring Tsavo landscape in Kenya, WWF-UK is supporting similar work carried out by WWF-Kenya in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service and the local community to install solar-powered elephant deterrent fences around a school and clinic bordering Tsavo National Park.
The southern border of Tsavo National Park is a vital corridor for elephants to travel into northern Tanzania. But in the dry season, elephants often venture into community lands, targeting water tanks in schools and homes, creating safety concerns for young children on their way to school and disruption of vital water supplies.
Barriers like the solar-powered fences help maintain water supplies and reduce the risk of conflict between communities and wildlife.
Top image: Elephants captured on camera by teacher, Betty Silantoi, as they approach the school fences at Kunchu Primary School in Amboseli, Kenya. Credit: Betty Silantoi
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