For his current project, Carlton is traveling in the Sahel region of Mali, at the edge of the Sahara, near Tombouctou. He is photographing endangered desert elephants - the last population in West Africa. His photographs will complement groundbreaking research and conservation efforts by The Wild Foundation, Save the Elephants, USAID and the Mali government.
Carlton will post occasional updates from the field to this website, as well as a few digital snapshots (see them here). Because he is primarily shooting film for this project, most of the photographs will not be available for viewing until after he returns to the states.
25 April 2004 - Bamako
Last night, when I came around the corner to exit the airplane, a hot breeze hit me in the face and reminded me that I was somewhere new. It is hot here, and the air smells like it does in Florida when the forest is burning. Only here there is no fire. It's just the dry season at the edge of the Sahara and the earth is parched.
Everything has gone smoothly so far. My last 36 hours in Tampa were a bit rough, and I didn't sleep a single minute before my departure. But now all is well and the trip here seemed easy. Perhaps I'm getting used to the Africa commute. Matt Miller, an economics officer with the US embassy, met me at the airport and brought me to the ambassador's residence. I am staying in the Chambre Carter, built for a presidential visit in the 80's. The ambassador and her husband have been very kind and she is a real champion of elephant conservation here in Mali. Tomorrow we head north to Gourma, the region of Sahel just below a large bend in the Niger River. There the elephants should be gathered by a few remnant waterholes key to their survival in the dry months. We leave at 5 am for a 10-hour drive. There will be 3 Land Cruisers in the caravan. Our goal is to meet leading elephant researcher, Richard Barnes, at Inadjatafane by nightfall.
This is my last moment with AC power and phone line (not to mention air conditioning and a bed). From here out it will be solar power and a sat phone and a cot on the desert floor..
More in a few days…..
28 April 2004 - Inadjatafane
Its 2 pm and I am under a hut seeking refuge from the blazing heat. I think I am starting to acclimate to this environment, but it would be dangerous to be in the field right now. Water stays so hot in the shade you can make tea in a water bottle about 5 minutes without sunlight. For some reason, hot tea tastes better than hot water. I am set up in the small Toureg village of Inadjatafane (not even on the Mali map), where I met up with the elephant researchers Monday night. It was a hard, 12 hour drive north from Bamako, the last 4 hours on dirt. I drove with a nice guy named Chris - US army communications on assignment from Germany.
The terrain is like nothing I have experienced (though in some ways similar to central Australia plus an element of what I'd expect to see in Afghanistan). There are thorny acacia trees scattered across the sand. The otherwise featureless landscape is enlivened by the occasional goat herder or camel caravan. There are a few remnant pockets of water in low-lying areas left over from last year's rains. They are drying up quickly and will continue to do so until the rains come again in several weeks. Meanwhile, the shallow pools sustain all life here – people, livestock and the elephants which have migrated here.
This morning I photographed a group of seven elephants we found at the edge of a nearby marsh. It was quite exhilarating, as the animals are twice the size of their cousins I am used to seeing in central Africa. These elephants were mostly facing away from me (and from the light), but I could not safely circle up wind of them to photograph them head on. They can become quite aggressive when they smell an intruder.
With me were 2 local trackers and Elmede, an experienced officer from the local department of nature conservation. Dr. Barnes and the others have taken one of the pickups to the town of Mopti for supplies and will return here tomorrow night. Meanwhile I will take advantage of the time to get familiar with this place and to photograph the local people, who in many ways are more captivating than the elephants (at this location). The people live very close to the land and are especially peaceful and kind. Most are devoutly Muslim and pray regularly. Their bright colors are striking against the drab desert background.
I will be here in Inadjatafane at least through Friday, and after several days I hope to explore Lake Banzena, a couple of hours to the West. If there are concentrations of elephants there I will stay as long as I can. I would like to work in one place for a while so I can set up remotes and begin to document more behavior and interactions.
Time has been passing slowly here, though I expect it to speed up, especially as I begin to sleep normally. Lying above the sand and beneath the open sky is a new thing. Last night I woke several times with an extremely dry mouth and once from blowing sands that were blasting my side. As desperation is the mother of invention, I solved my breathing problem by sleeping with a wet t-shirt over my face. I will continue to adjust and by the time I come home I expect air conditioning to make me shiver.
I have been shooting mostly film thus far, but will try to make a few digital frames to upload to the site. Well the light is starting to soften and I must get ready for my afternoon session…..
30 April, 2004 - Contrasts
It seems that each day I find something new that reminds me how hot it is here. The other day I found my main tube of toothpaste, which had been lost in my bag since Bamako. It must have experienced thermal breakdown; if Colgate saw the way it flows here they would not have called it paste. Then last night my bucket bath was very hot to the skin (kind of nice) and the cook insisted it had not been heated. Though I may not experience a single cool sensation until I board the airplane, I am finally starting to acclimate. Maybe my lifeguard days of stubborn
rebellion against air conditioning are paying off. Last night I slept straight through until dawn and today I have more typical energy and focus. At 2 pm it's still too hot to work, so I have a chance to write.
I remain in Inadjatafane and will be based here until Sunday. In a place where landscape and culture seem to blend so harmoniously, there exists strong elements of contrast: a single figure floating across sand with no starting point or destination or source of water in sight, a pool of water persisting improbably into the driest month, or an elephant browsing from a tree with domestic goats and donkeys passing in the foreground. But the greatest contrast here in Inadjatafane must be me.
The other afternoon, returning from the field in one of the project's two white Toyota pickups, we passed a Toureg child who jumped and ran to hide behind a small acacia. Elmehedi told me the child had never seen a vehicle. So what must people here think of me with high-tech cameras strung around my neck and a digital camera that can capture and display an image instantly? Or a computer that allows me to share photos made in the field on the same day? Or a satellite telephone that sits beside my head while I stand in the open and talk to myself? In a place not yet corrupted by material culture, I feel somewhat heavy under the load of my life's complexities, not to mention the weight of my gear. There is a lot for the western world to learn from the strength and simplicity of the people here.
01 May, 2004 – Moving on
We think the elephants here have moved west to Banzena, where there is a lake that holds water year-round. Elephants are known to congregate there in May, the driest month of the year, and I have high hopes of photographing them there. Banzena is two hours west of Inadjatafane. We will start our move in the morning.
To be more specific on our location, Banzena (there is no town) is about 12 hours northeast of Bamako and a couple of hours north of Douentza. The Gourma region, range of the desert elephants and the general location of all of my work in Mali, is defined as the area south of the
bend in the Niger River between Mopti and Gao.
If the elephants are indeed moving to Banzena, they should continue to arrive during our time there and we could end up setting camp for a couple of weeks. That will be ideal, allowing me to work one area in more depth, setting up a remote camera and having more opportunity to
document unique moments of elephant behavior. We find out soon enough.
Today I bought a turban from a small Toureg market where the nomads gather on Saturday. In addition to protecting me from blowing sands, Elmehdi said I will be camouflaged like the locals and the elephants should be more accepting of me. There is also the chance he just wanted
to see me in a purple head wrap.
I will write again from Banzena, hopefully with good news, though it may be several days.
05 May, 2004 – Banzena
We have been camped at Banzena for 3 nights now. It is an amazing place – a lake and vast marsh surrounded by harsh desert. To walk over a parched yellow sand dune and see for the first time the greens and blues of an improbable wetland is striking. Banzena is the quintessential desert oasis.
Last years rains were very strong, so the lake contains more water than normal.
Toureg nomads and their numerous livestock depend on this place; so do the elephants. The water sustains all life here and we are expecting the elephants to congregate as we enter the driest month of the year. But one night last week there was uncharacteristic and unexpected
rainfall, which filled low-lying areas with water. As a result, the elephants have been able to browse at a greater distance from the lake. This morning I observed approximately 100 elephants moving along the scrub to the east of the lake. We have been observing elephants there since Monday and their numbers seem to be increasing. The outlying puddles are drying fast and we predict that the elephants will converge on the main Banzena marsh with in the week.
Photographing the elephants here has been difficult thus far. Large groups with young calves are dangerous to approach and it is often not possible to approach the main group because doing so would require close proximity to individual males acting as scouts. I will work during the next few days to make overall pictures of the groups east of the marsh, but will wait until the elephants come to the water to make closer pictures.
I am continuing to acclimate to this environment and am finally reaching a point where I can focus more clearly. I suffered mild heat exhaustion Monday and Tuesday after working through the mid-day hours, but have now adjusted my schedule to ease the burden of this place (which can still be quite heavy). Yesterday morning I had an acacia spine pierce the sole of my shoe and go one full inch into the ball of my right foot. It effectively pinned my shoe in place. Removing the shoe and the spine from my foot took considerable force, but the wound has healed rather nicely. I have been sleeping well lately, but last night the winds were blowing, turning the slow cooking of the night into convection baking.
I have not taken any digital photos lately, but I will try to send a few to represent the area in the next week.
Evening Update: This evening, I witnessed a phenomenal natural history event, unique to the world and perhaps the most spectacular I have ever seen, as more than 100 (and possibly 200) elephants crossed a grass clearing en route to the Banzena marsh. These numbers represent approximately half the known population for all of Mali (a country as big as Colorado and Texas combined), coming together here at a swamp in the desert. I could not approach as closely as I wouldI have liked for risk of endangering myself, and more importantly the other researchers. But I did make some strong images. I will try to put a digital sample on the site.
09 May, 2004 – Settling In
It's Sunday night. Tomorrow will make one week in the field for me and I am starting to figure a few things out. I search for elephants each morning and evening and return to camp to organize and rest during the grueling midday.
We have had nice weather the past 3 days, giving a small break in the temperature (last night I was comfortable while fully covered by my sheet), and providing exceptionally clear skies. The first day of the clear weather I discovered for the first time that there is an impressive rock escarpment on the horizon some 60 km to the south. I hope the good weather continues, but I get the feeling it is just a small teaser of tolerable conditions before the Harmattan starts to blow again, sand fills the air, and May earns its reputation as the hottest month of the year.
There is still some residual water in some of the outlying low areas and the Banzena swamp itself is quite full. It could be up to two weeks before the elephants really need to concentrate by the water in the daytime. Lately they have been able to hold out in the surrounding scrub and come to the lake under the cover of darkness. Last night there was an army of elephants quite close to the camp, rustling trees, growling, splashing and trumpeting. Unable to make photos, I recorded their sounds with a video camera.
This afternoon I set up a camera trap on a trail well worn by elephants. The on site preparations took about 2 hours and just as I had loaded the film and started the final test, an elephant started coming down the trail. We gathered our things in a hurry and backed away to watch. It was quite suspenseful to see the animal approach the section of trail where the camera was waiting. I was hoping to see my flashes go off in the twilight, but the elephant stopped and deviated right just before the camera. Our scent was too fresh in the area. The scent will fade and others elephants will come soon enough.
Richard and Emmanuel, the researchers for the elephant ID project, went to town today to get supplies and new tires for the Toyota. The trucks are equipped with light-duty tires and as a result we are suffering an average of one flat tire per day per vehicle. Each vehicle carries 2 complete spares and there are some days we have gone through both. The drivers, Ibraham and Papa, have against their will become experts in tire service. Some punctures are inevitable in acacia country, but daily punctures can be demoralizing. Aiming to keep spirits high in camp, this evening I bought a goat from a local herder and brought it home for dinner.
10 May 2004 – These Elephants
These Elephants are different other elephants. There are obvious differences, such as being the last population in the Sahel, making the longest known migrations of all land animals, and having relatively small tusks. And there are also many nuances, making them especially difficult to photograph.
For example, these elephants come together in large groups during the dry season (now), in the same conditions where other African elephants would be dispersing in small groups. And mentioned in a previous entry, the large groups here are difficult and dangerous to approach. These elephants are also very afraid of vehicles. They do not see vehicles often, and when they do, it is occasional tourists harassing them. When you come too close in a vehicle, not only are they scared away; their behavior patterns are known to change for a number of days. As a result, you can only approach the elephants on foot. This is opposite to the situation in East Africa or South Africa, where elephants are often well habituated to vehicles. These elephants are also wary of outsiders such as myself (a turban can help my look but doesn't change my smell).
Another challenge is that these elephants only come to the water to drink at night, when I cannot make useful pictures (and the moon will not be full for another 3 weeks). The competition with livestock and herders is too intense during the day and the elephants will only face this situation when they become desperate. This may happen as the heat of May presses on, but will not likely take place for another 2 weeks.
16 May 2004 - Mopti - A Brief Change in Place
By last Thursday, the restless routine of 2 ½ weeks working in the desert was starting to take its toll on me. Here there are not rainy days to give a photographer a chance to sleep on it, I had been getting up everyday at 4:30a.m. to chase the light. When the opportunity came on Friday to go with one of our trucks to Mopti for service, I decided to step away for a night and gain some perspective. I realized I have been working with a rather limited concept of Mali as a country. I had gone directly from the USA to Inadjatafane, from civilization to Sahel.
Mopti is considered Mali's most colorful port town. It sits on the Bani River at its confluence with the Niger, between Bamako and Timbouctu. The drive from Banzena took 5 hours. In tourist season, Mopti is well visited by westerners and has a couple of nice hotels. I treated myself to air-conditioning, a swim in a pool, and a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Now I am back in the bush, and contrary to my initial suspicions, partaking in the accoutrements of civilization has not ruined my conditioning to the desert environment. In fact I should have had more ice
cream (or anything else cold) while I had the chance.
Friday evening I hired a pinasse to explore the rivers and photograph life along the banks. It was quite nice and I would like to spend more time working there someday. Saturday I went walking along the river pre-dawn and made more pictures of the cool blue vein bringing life to the desert.
While I was away, my camera trap had some promising hits, which will hopefully turn out to be elephants and not goats or donkeys.
17 May 2004 – To Tombouctou
Monday I set off for Tombouctou, deciding it was best for me to make this trip now rather than at the end of my stay when the elephants are more likely to congregate by water in the daylight. The other researchers have gone to Inadjatafane for a few days, giving the elephants at Banzena a short break from our presence. I am hopeful that when I return to the Sahel, the elephants will be more cooperative. I have extended my time in Mali by a couple of weeks to improve my chances.
To those of us in the western world, ‘Timbuktu' usually conjures up notions of distance and isolation. So it was quite strange to know it would be just a 4-hour drive from my Sahel camp and much more connected to the modern world. In the 1300s, Tombouctou was a great center of
commerce and culture, and it is now the regional capital. I will stay 3 nights in a hotel, make some pictures, get some rest, and gather my thoughts for my final weeks of work.
20 May 2004 – Sahara Sands
I am fascinated by the frontier nature of Tombouctou. I made a brief tour of some of the historical and cultural sites, but my main interest has been the interface with the Sahara desert. White dunes flank the city and daytime winds try to fill the streets with sand. To the north, the Sahara stretches all the way to the Mediterranean, and Tombouctou is the last outpost. It is a timeless landscape, where camel caravans disappear into the desert as they have for centuries.
Today, these caravans still connect to Sahara salt mines more than 800 km to the north. The peak of activity is in the winter months when droves of camels line the desert. But even now, in the hottest month of the year, I was able to find 32 camels marching north with one Tuareg in the lead and one at the rear. They were loaded with supplies for the long journey. I walked for a few kilometers along side of them and rode on the lead camel for a brief spell. When I turned around, Tombouctou was obscured by distant dunes. I was surrounded by the Sahara and imagined what it would be like to be walking south as I was after more than a month in the desert. My thirst was already intense after a couple of hours. The first rows of Tuareg houses were a welcome sight when they appeared beyond the sand.
25 May 2004 – Hunting Elephants
My journey to Tombouctou gave me a chance to reflect and refocus. My last day there, I spent a couple of hours floating down the Niger in a pinasse, thinking about the challenges that lie ahead. Since returning to Banzena I have had to shift my expectations even further. The elephants, which remain in large groups, are still not coming to the water in the daytime. In fact, they are spending all of the daylight hours in dense acacia forest, which I cannot safely enter. I have had to accept that I might not even see the elephants by the water in the daylight, and if I do it will be a one-time opportunity. I keep faith that this will happen, but in the meantime I cannot wait for the elephants. I must go after them.
I know that they will come to the water each night, but where they come from and where they go changes each day. Success depends on following their tracks and anticipating their movements. This year the lake and marsh extend for several kilometers and the elephants use all of it at different times. For the past couple of days they have been browsing in the Tabarac Barac forest by day, and then crossing a gap of relatively open sand for the lake at dusk. Last night they waited to cross until it was too dark to make pictures. This morning they returned to the forest under the cover of darkness. Being so close yet so far is frustrating, but at least I know where they are and will continue to pursue them there.
Eager to photograph the crossing, last night I waited behind a tree until all the light was gone. As a result we had to sleep at a nearby Tuareg camp without any of our food or supplies. Elmedhi (who was understandably frustrated by my resistance to leaving earlier) insisted that it was far too dangerous to walk the 1.5 km back to our camp in the darkness. There were far too many elephants converging on the marsh. I probably would have pushed on in the dark, trusting my ability to avoid elephants. But that was before I learned that an elephant killed one of the villagers last year. So I slept in my clothes on a reed bed in a Tuareg camp under the stars.
I expected that I would go without food until the morning, but Muhammed slaughtered a small goat (something he only does when he has a guest because they are too valuable to eat otherwise). Then he brought me a bowl of the prize cuts – boiled liver, pancreas and heart. I ate with my pocketknife and hands under the moonlight, surrounded by curious onlookers. Getting stuck at the Tuareg camp provided a window into a world that I had only seen from a distance, leaving me thankful for the turn of events. I felt welcome as part of the group as I drifted into sleep amongst the family circled on sand. The night passed ephemeral as a dream, punctuated by the scuffling of goats, the rumbling of elephants in all directions, and the occasional scream of the camels when the elephants came to close to camp.
Today it is very hot and that makes me happy because it brings hope the elephants will become thirsty before nightfall. Yesterday I discovered that my light meter has a built in thermometer. Right now it reads 103 degrees. And I am sitting in the cool room where we work and rest during the midday. At least I don't have to worry about my lunch getting cold on the table beside me. Last night, when I laid down to sleep, the temperature under my mosquito net was 95 degrees (and actually feeling comfortable). It is 112 degrees in the room where I store my gear and work. When I put the thermometer in direct sunlight on the sand, it climbed quickly to 141 degrees.
Note that my camera trap is doing some good work for me in the nighttime world of elephants that I myself cannot enter. It has produced 4 rolls of film with some promise of successful pictures. I placed a digital camera on the trail for two nights. See the image gallery for a result.
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| Gulf Coast Journal 2004 |
| Mali Elephants 2 |
| Opening Day |
What is Conservation Photography?
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