Save the Elephants

Protecting elephants in Kenya and across Africa.

When you support Save the Elephants, you help secure a future for elephants, sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live, and promote coexistence between elephants and humans.

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Creating peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants.

Save the Elephants has led the charge to save Africa’s elephants both in Kenya—where their headquarters are based—and across the world.

Elephants are intelligent, sensitive, and social beings.

Unfortunately, elephant herds are torn apart by a poaching epidemic that is fueled by a demand for ivory.

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A Local Team with Global Impact

Formed more than 25 years ago, STE serves as a long‐term protector of elephants and as an advocate on an international stage.

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Elephants are intelligent, sensitive, and social beings.

Unfortunately, elephant herds are torn apart by a poaching epidemic that is fueled by a demand for ivory.

Find out more

A Local Team with Global Impact

Formed more than 25 years ago, STE serves as a long‐term protector of elephants and as an advocate on an international stage.

Find out more

Save the Elephants (STE) is working hard to end the poaching of elephants. They conducts research into the ecology and behavior of wild elephants, providing deep insights into the challenges they face and forging science-based solutions for a harmonious future between elephants and humans. STE is working for peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants and provides outreach around the world to help secure a better future for elephants. Thanks to their work, 90 elephant births were recorded in 2020, the highest increase in Kenya since 2008.

STE conducts research into the ecology and behavior of wild elephants, providing deep insights into the challenges they face and forging science-based solutions for a harmonious future between elephants and humans. The organization’s research closely follows the wild elephants in STE’s northern Kenya study area in intimate detail, and through tracking elephants in various sites across Africa provides crucial details on the land elephants need in order to thrive.

Conservation Solutions

Tackling Wildlife Crime

Boosting Local Economies

Guiding Policy

Ending the Ivory Trade

STE consistently participates in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to urge all international parties to unite in supporting ivory demand reduction and to initiate public awareness campaigns to reduce demand and stop the killing of elephants. In Kenya, STE also employs anti-poaching efforts to ensure that the gains made are long-lasting both for the elephants and for the communities that depend on the landscape they shape.

Elephants & Bees Project

The Elephants and Bees Project reduces damage from crop-raiding elephants on local farms by taking advantage of the elephants’ instinctive avoidance of African honey bees. The project installs Beehive Fences as a natural elephant deterrent, creating a social and economic boost to poverty-stricken rural communities through the sustainable harvesting of “Elephant-Friendly Honey.”

Real Time Monitoring

STE founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton was the first to track elephants using radio collars and STE remains at the forefront of tracking technology, providing near-instantaneous observation of elephants via their GPS location system. This real-time monitoring system is being applied to identify poaching events, with alerts issued via SMS and email to wildlife management and enforcement, allowing rapid response.

Elephant Scholarships

STE encourages students to become ambassadors of their environment by supporting their education and improving the infrastructure of local schools. Through scholarships, conservation education, internships, and resource support in schools within elephant rangelands, STE helps young people work towards their dreams and also preserve their natural heritage.

Basket Weaving

In Sagalla, Kenya, a group of vibrant female basket weavers gathered after seeing a need to form an enterprise group to raise additional income for their families and to stop dependence on income from subsistence farming. Basket weaving has not only served to increase their household’s income but also provides a comfortable social setting where the women can bond and share their experiences and challenges.

Elephants & Bees Project

STE’s Elephants and Bees program has become globally recognized for its ability to reduce human-elephant conflict while providing alternative livelihoods for farmers. Though bees are most famous for their honey (and ability to scare off elephants), beeswax is also a great source for producing candles, lip balm, soap, and body creams that can be sold as a boost for farmers.

CITES & Kenyan Law

During the peak of the elephant poaching crisis, Save the Elephants and members of the Kenya Elephant Forum sat down to draft a policy for the Kenyan President at the time, which eventually led to a new Wildlife Conservation and Management Bill. The bill and STE’s continued international efforts at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have been instrumental in protecting elephants.

Tackling Wildlife Crime

CITES & Kenyan Law

You are making an impact for elephants

When you get involved, donate, or spread the word on social media, you are truly making a better world for elephants and the communities that live near them. Here are a few ways you can help:

Connect with Save the Elephants on social media to learn more about their work and be a voice for elephants.

Visit Save the Elephant’s website and sign up for their newsletter to deepen your connection with conservation.
VISIT WEBSITE

Lastly, donate to support Save the Elephant’s work protecting elephants. Through our donation model, 100% of your donation goes to field with zero taken for overhead or administration.

Luna's Story of Hope and Resilience

This is the story of Luna. A brave and resilient collared elephant whose family was decimated by poachers. Footage: Robbie Labanowski / Save the Elephants and music by Sebastian

Watch Luna's Story

Our research which records the births and deaths of Samburu's elephants is a particularly sensitive barometer and alerted the world to what is happening with poaching. We reached a tipping point in 2009 where deaths outnumbered births.

Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton

Photography Credits: Frank af Petersens, Frank Pope, Susan McConnell, Jon McCormack, Tom Stahl, Jane Wynyard/Save the Elephants, Wildlife Conservation Society

Protecting elephants in Kenya and across Africa.

Creating peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants.

Elephants are intelligent, sensitive, and social beings.

A Local Team with Global Impact

Species Impact

Team Values

Elephants are intelligent, sensitive, and social beings.

A Local Team with Global Impact

Species Impact

Team Values

Conservation Solutions

Ending the Ivory Trade

Elephants & Bees Project

Real Time Monitoring

Elephant Scholarships

Basket Weaving

Elephants & Bees Project

CITES & Kenyan Law

Ending the Ivory Trade

Elephants & Bees Project

Real Time Monitoring

Elephant Scholarships

Basket Weaving

Elephants & Bees Project

CITES & Kenyan Law

Luna's Story of Hope and Resilience

News & Stories

The Community That Lives With Elephants

New Paths to Human-Elephant Coexistence

Severe Drought in Kenya Threatens Wildlife

Healing the Rift Between Elephants and People

Poachers Turned Wildlife Defenders in the DRC

The Hidden Elephants

Giant Steps for Elephant Recovery

2019: A Year in Photos

Protecting Wildlife: The Untapped Solution to the Climate Crisis

Beehive Fences to Deter Elephants and Honey Badgers

Making Samburu Safe for Elephants

A Snapshot of the 2019 Spring Wildlife Conservation Expo

Elephants and Bees and Me

Saluting Rangers Worldwide on World Ranger Day

LOEWE Launches Limited Edition Bags with Knot On My Planet to Save Elephants

Vogue: Who Will Save the Elephants?

A Vet for Samburu

Big Win for the War Against the Ivory Trade

Catching Elephant Poachers

China to Formally Shut Down All Domestic Ivory Trade by End of 2017

China's Illegal Ivory Trade Escalating Out of Control

Counting Elephants in the Selous

Elephants Crossing

Elephants Are Very Scared of Bees. That Could Save Their Lives.

Elephants Never Forget. And We Will Not Forget Elephants.

First Elephant Spotted in Somalia in 20 Years

How Bees Save Elephants

Hungry People Cannot Care About Conservation: The First Beehive Fence in Niassa

Important Step Taken for Hong Kong Ivory Ban

Ivory Destroyed in New York to Support Elephant Conservation

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Donates $1 Million to Elephant Crisis Fund

Justice for Elephants

Mali’s Desert Elephants, on Edge of Annihilation, Get a Fighting Chance - New York Times

New Protections Put in Place for the Embattled Elephants of Virunga National Park

Poachers Were Responsible for the Deaths of 100,000 African Elephants in Only Three Years

October 19th Fundraiser: The Art of Saving Elephants to Feature Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton and the African American Dance Ensemble

Price of Ivory in China Falls Sharply

President Obama Announces New Restrictions on the US Ivory Trade

Tiffany & Co. Partners with Doutzen Kroes and #KnotOnMyPlanet

Sokotei the Orphaned Elephant Is Now Thriving

US Government Crushes Seized Elephant Ivory

A Year of Progress for the Elephant Crisis Fund

China Announces Commitment to Phase Out Ivory Trade

China Suspends Ivory Imports for One Year

Defending Some of the World's Last Great Tuskers

ECF Provides Emergency Support Following Poaching Attack in Garamba

Elephant Crisis Fund: Protecting Forest Elephants In Ivindo

Saving the Elephants of Babile

World Environment Day 2018