By Leah Hyslop

Dr Kate Evans was just seven years old when she decided she’d rather work with elephants than people. The daughter of a Foreign Office worker, she spent much of her childhood being moved from one country to another, and first saw an elephant up close and personal at a centre in Sri Lanka. “Nobody ever believes me because it sounds so twee, but from that moment on, I knew I wanted to make them my life.”

Most seven-year-olds grow up to forget their dreams of becoming an astronaut, ballerina, or elephant enthusiast, but Evans stayed true to her word. After studying zoology at Swansea University, and gaining experience volunteering on various projects throughout southern Africa, she ended up in Botswana’s Okavango delta. Here, she started to study elephant behaviour for a PhD, but says she always had a long-term vision for the project.

“I soon realized that establishing a permanent charity would get the elephants of this region much more attention, and much-needed support from donors,” remembers Evans. “So in 2008, after completing my PhD, I founded Elephants for Africa – and have stayed ever since.”

Botswana is home to the largest remaining elephant population in the world, and has been highlighted as a priority area for the conservation of the African elephant by the World Wildlife Fund and the African Elephants Specialist Group. Evans’s work is dedicated to researching ways for humans to live alongside and conserve the species.

“Our tagline is conservation through research and education,” she says. “What we look into is understanding their ecological and social requirements, so the areas we deem suitable for wildlife conservation are actually providing what they need. In addition we are investigating ways we may be able to mitigate human-elephant conflict.”

The rather ominous-sounding “human-elephant conflict” immediately brings to mind poaching, but Evans says this is not most serious problem in Botswana. “Crop raiding is a huge socio-economic problem throughout Africa and Asia and easily the biggest cause of ill-will towards elephants here. Electric fences don’t keep them out of farmers’ crops, because they quickly learn that their tusks won’t conduct electricity.

“What we need to do is look at ideas like using certain smells and sounds to drive them off, like the buzzing of bees, or the smell of chillies, both of which they hate. We’re also studying elephant vocalization, so we can start communicating with the animals about where and where not to go.”

The Elephants For Africa research camp is over 100 kilometres – and a six hour drive through thick bush – from the nearest large town. Evans and her husband live in a tent near the centre. Dry food is flown in once a month, fresh once a week, and life revolves largely around work. It is, she admits, a little antisocial, but she can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“People always ask me what it’s like living in a tent, but I find it exhilarating,” she says cheerfully. “I’ve lived on and off in a tent for a decade now, and when I tried going back to the UK, I found it hard. The UK is all closed doors and closed windows, whereas living out here, you’re so in touch with nature. I love hearing the elephants and other animals moving around.”

The charity focuses mainly on male adolescent elephants, about which relatively little is known. “Most elephant research is done on females, or adults, but the adolescent period is very protracted in male elephants – from the age of 12 up to their early 30s.

“Male elephants are the main crop raiders, and if we are going to actively mitigate raiding, then we need a deeper understanding of male elephant ecology and sociality. We have over 650 male elephants that we know that use the study area and detailed data on these individuals gives really valuable information on their behavioural patterns.”

Evans is also keen to educate people about the importance of elephant research. She currently has a PhD and a master’s student working with her (“The ones who come from Britain take a bit of time to get used to all the snakes and insects”) and gives seminars to the local population.

In 2011 Elephants For Africa will start a schools education program, which Evans has wanted to do for some time. This program will bring children from rural areas to see the animals in a peaceful setting, to challenge their impression of elephants as destroyers of their families’ crops and cattle.

“Lots of them have never seen elephants in a wild situation,” she says, “and you can’t under-estimate how important is to teach children to value and appreciate nature. It’s about giving the population the tools and opportunities to take care of their wildlife and their wilderness, rather than just coming in and doing everything ourselves. This way, they can become the ones who are the future conservationists and managers of this beautiful area.”

It all sounds very convincing. But somehow, I don’t imagine that Dr Kate Evans will ever be persuaded to pack up her tent.

If you’d like to learn more about Elephants for Africa, visit the website here.