Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work they go, the wonderfully unique mining elephants of Kenya, says Sheena Harvey
In the dark of night a bulky animal shape lumbers up a rocky track, climbing the steep side of Mount Elgon in Kenya, intent on an important mission. Following the lead in single file are members of the creature’s family all anxious to reach their goal but nervous of what dangers they might have to confront along the way.
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These are the savanna elephants of Mount Elgon National Park, the precious remnants of the once numerous herds that roamed the area around the extinct volcano on the borders of Kenya and Uganda. Now they have all but disappeared from the Uganda side of the border and only a few hundred still cling on in the forests of the Kenyan side, surviving human hunters and deforestation thanks to the protection of the national park rangers and their daily patrols.
Human-elephant conflict has been caused by farmers planting crops amongst the woodland’s sapling trees and elephants finding the edible plants a tempting addition to their diet of grasses, leaves and bark. This poses dangers for not only the elephants but also the local population, faced with animals that will fight back against oppression.
Other commercial activities such as logging have also removed much of the tree cover that the elephants rely on for shelter and food, giving another reason for their decline.
The motivation for these elephants to go on night-time excursions up the slopes of the mountain is to reach one of many caves that follow the path of ancient lava flows deep into the dead volcano. The animals’ quest is to find salt.
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Most living beings needs minerals, including sodium, to maintain the proper balance in their body’s systems. Usually these are ingested through the food they eat. But Mt Elgon is very poor in minerals due to the amount of rain that falls in the region, which sweeps the goodness out of the soil. Deep in crevices such as Kitum Cave lie valuable seams of salt and minerals that the elephants need. So they go mining.
Once they descend into the cave the elephant line trudges 150 metres in the pitch black. They find their way by feeling with their trunks to identify the routes that have been worn over thousands of years by their ancestors making the same journey.
The walls of the cave echo to their contact groans and rumbles as the family group stick together, nervously aware of the narrowness of the entrance and the lack of an escape route. These factors have been used by poachers in the past to trap and kill elephants.
At the end of the cave lies the prize – small nuggets of salt-enriched rock on the ground that they hoover up enthusiastically. One elephant can excavate up to 20kg of salt rock in a night. When the loose shale is removed they turn miners and, using their tusks, score down the rock face to prise away lumps to consume. Deep grooves are left behind in the stone. This practice has led to the elephants of Mt Elgon having particularly stubby tusks.
After their labours they take advantage of the cosy, quiet cave to snooze for a while before making the long trek back into the dawn’s light and down the mountainside.
No other elephants in the world are known to penetrate caves to go mining. The preservation of these unique animals from the deadly forces of 21st century humans is the focus of strenuous conservation efforts, as their historic ranges extend well beyond the park’s boundaries. Land plans that mitigate human-elephant conflict are in train, as well as education for the population in the valuable resource they have in tourism terms.
/The Mount Elgon Elephant Project (MEEP), led by the Mount Elgon Foundation, aims to map the caves, the routes taken by the elephants to get to them, the conflict areas and the places occupied by local communities, with the ultimate aim of having the whole of the Mt Elgon area declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Working with key Kenyan wildlife and heritage organisations, MEEP employs local people and also helps create alternative means for communities to earn a living. Hopefully these measures will come together to safeguard the Kenyan savanna elephants and their salt mining for generations to come.
