Geographical Magazine
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Ivory Ghosts
2021
Will this be the last we see of the magnificent African elephant? Elliot Daniel travelled to Africa to investigate the rise of poaching following a decision to lift the ivory ban.
Machine guns cocked and at the ready, we trekked g deep into the Kenyan Tsavo National Park, the jagged spikes of the Commiphora bush tore at my body, the dust from the baked red earth stained my clothes blood red. There, in a clearing, lay the slaughtered elephant. Its bones bleached white by the sweltering sun, its hardened skin lay lifeless, draped like an “ ancient fishing net on a discarded boat. Scattered remains lay where the great beast had been brought down, its tusks destined to become a trinket on a mantlepiece in a faraway land. Everything reeked of death. The musky scent pervading the air is one I will not easily forget.