Jumbo Circus in Machakos Town

Machakos resident woke up to a shocking Tuesday morning when a sub-adult male elephant was found grazing at the Machakos Training Institute. The whole town went into panic as word spread like bush fire that the jumbo was indeed at the institute. Sooner, scared residents gathered around the mammoth, pelting it with stones and sticks, but luckily he remained calm.

It is not clear as to when the jumbo arrived in town but KWS personnel believe that the young adult male of about 20–25 years old may have strayed from the wildlife dispersal areas surrounding Amboseli National Park. The lone male elephant had earlier been sighted in Kajiado District, around Kitengela area. Overnight, he moved over 40km to Machakos town.

As soon as the KWS Problem Animal Management Unit (PAMU), the Capture Unit and the Veterinary Unit learnt of the elephant in Machakos, they raced with equipment to the site ready to capture and relocate the jumbo to a safe area, before he could cause any harm to the residents.

Meanwhile, an advance team was already on the ground controlling the swelling crowd, curious to have a glimpse of the elephant. The team was led by the Warden of Machakos, Mr. Julius Manza, and composed of rangers from Nairobi, Ngong, Administration Police and Kenya Prison.

At the scene, the veterinary and the Capture teams led by Dr. Francis Gakuya and Dr. Isaac Lekolol darted the elephant in preparation for translocation. As soon as he gave way to the tranquilizer, there was pandemonium, with the curious crowds surging towards the fallen jumbo. Everyone wanted to either touch or be photographed with the subdued animal and KWS personnel had difficulty controlling the crowd.

Fortunately, the Assistant Minister for Wildlife Honorable Kalembe Ndile was there in person to supervise the exercise and calm the panic stricken and curious residents. He assured residents of their own safety adding that the presence of the lone elephant did not pose any danger to wananchi.

The elephant was later transported to Mashuru area where he moved towards Eseelengie group ranch. Currently, the jumbo is in Emotoroki area where it is believed to have started the Machakos bound journey. KWS teams are still monitoring his movements in the region.

How the elephant found itself in town is interesting but it is important to know that male elephants live a very different life from that of females. As they get older, they begin to spend more time at the edge of the herd, gradually moving off on their own, for hours or days at a time. Eventually, around the age of fourteen, the mature males, set out from their natal groups for good, and start to live solitary lives. The elephant at Machakos could have been driven by such an event, and in trying to establish its range, wandered into Machakos.

While males live primarily solitary lives, they will occasionally form loose associations with other males. These groups are called bachelor herds. The males spend much more time than the females fighting for dominance with each other. Only the most dominant males will be permitted to breed with cycling females. The less dominant ones must wait for their turns. It is usually the older bulls, forty to fifty years old that do most of the breeding. Dominance battles between males can look very fierce, but typically they inflict very little injury. Most of the bouts are in the form of aggressive displays and bluffs. Ordinarily, the smaller, younger, and less confident animals will back off before any real damage can be done. However, during the breeding season, the battles can get extremely aggressive, and hence the occasional elephant is injuries.

With emerging changes in landuse types and the disappearance of former ranges, elephants and other wildlife in general are constantly finding themselves in the middle of settlements. These interactions are of course stressful to the animals and cause a lot of disorientations hence the kind of movement behavior displayed by this elephant.

Recently, there have been sightings of wild animals within areas of high human populations. In March 2005, two bull elephants strayed into Nairobi National Park, near the KWS Central Workshop. They were later captured and translocated to Amboseli National Park.

In February this year, a family of 5 elephants was sighted in the Kitengela area; however they later retraced their route and headed south to the Loitas and Mosiro areas of Kajiado/Narok ecosystems. Recently, a leopard was captured and moved from a residential area in Spring Valley. Currently there is a mother calf elephant at Bisil near Kajiado town, but KWS special PAMU team is keeping tight vigil. Of all these cases there have been no human injuries or damage reported.

There are other theories of this phenomenon (wildlife being seen outside their normal ranges). There is a possibility that improved wildlife security in the ecosystem is encouraging elephants to venture out into former dispersal areas. Similarly others believe that such behavior is a response to stress caused by human encroachment into the existing habitats thereby forcing them to move out in search of new homes. This phenomenon has inspired our researchers to study the new trends in wild animals’ behavior.