The Elephants of Selenkay (2022)

The Maasai Community from Laikipia, up North in Kenya were moved to the Eelenkay Area of the Amboseli Ecosystem by the colonial masters in the 1900s. This was to create space for the European Settlers to farm in the arable lands of Laikipia. In Eselenkay, the Maasai would have to fight for grazing space with Elephants, who were already part of this ecosystem. In the 1970s, human-wildlife conflict, poaching and hunting resulted in the entire Elephant population in the area being wiped out, the few remaining would migrate to the Amboseli National Park, a safe haven for Elephants. The entire habitat of Eselenkay would get dilapidated and destroyed. There would be mass overgrazing in the area and invasive weed species would take over the land. In 2004 Jake Grieves - Cook, through his company Gamewatchers Safaris, approached the Eselenkay community to set up a wildlife conservancy within their community land; a first of its kind. A conservancy that would be run by the community, and they would directly benefit from it; however, there were no Elephants in the area. Would this work? Waterholes were created, and road networks built. The community would collect Elephant dung and place it strategically from Amboseli National Park all the way to Selenkay Conservancy. In 2007, after over 20 years, the first Elephants retuned to Selenkay Conservancy. Today there are over 300 Elephants in the Conservancy; and the population is growing. We also discover the initiatives taken by the community and Gamewatchers to educate the youth in the area and how this model has created a win-win situation for both the community and Gamewatchers Safaris. Today, a habitat has been restored, and the Maasai Community in the Eselenkay has realized the value of Elephants and other wildlife. As a result of this, through tourism, they are benefitting from wildlife conservation, a form of alternative land use, by setting aside land for a conservancy and not grazing cattle here. The Elephants, an endangered species, now have open spaces to roam and graze, and live peacefully alongside the Maasai. The Amboseli Ecosystem and many other areas around Kenya is now facing land demarcation, and there is a lot of sub-division going around. It is vital that open spaces remain and no fencing be done, so that wildlife can also move around freely. This documentary showcases that it is possible to set up wildlife conservancies and alternative land use and communities can run these conservancies and also directly benefit from their existence. It also gives us hope, that mankind can reverse destruction brought to habitats and restore ecosystems and conserve our wildlife.