About Desert Elephants

Our Elephants are special because...

They have adapted to their dry, sandy and rocky home by having a smaller body mass and seemingly larger feet than other elephants.

They sometimes cross seas of sand dunes to reach water, then slide down a dune’s face to drink at a pool in a desert oasis.

              

Auses Natural spring in the Skeleton Coast
Park, where elephants sometimes slide down
the dunes when coming to drink.



    

They can survive long dry periods by eating moisture-laden vegetation growing in ephemeral riverbeds and traveling long distances to water sources. Some live in smaller than average family units of only two or three animals, thereby decreasing pressure on food and water resources. They are of high national and international conservation priority, and have been designated as top priority for protection by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

There is only one other group of desert-dwelling elephants in the world. They live in Mali, North Africa, where they were forced into their desert habitat by human population expansion.

Right: A well-known breeding herd, called "Snorkel`s group", feeds in the Uniab river near Palmwag lodge.

Below: A herd of elephants moving along an ephemeral riverbed is dwarfed by the vastness of the desert landscape of its home.