Ivory Wars

National Geographic

While poachers are slaughtering some of the last surviving central African elephants for their tusks, a refuge in Chad gives this endangered species armed protection—and a

fighting chance.

Slaking their thirst at a dry season water hole on the Salamat River, elephants in Zakouma National Park have flourished, with their numbers

growing from 1,100 to around 3,500 during the past 21 years. Outside the park, the scene is not so benign.

Skin and bones are all that remain of the 20 elephants killed last May just outside the southern border of Zakouma National Park. Poachers hauled away the ivory, leaving park officials with an ongoing challenge: How to

protect herds that wander beyond the park's protective umbrella.

When one matriarch searches for food outside Zakouma, a herd of 800 elephants falls in behind. Wise old females, responsible for the well-being

of family groups, know every trail and creek crossing, every village and road. They know where dangers lie, and where to find the best forage.

Armed guards patrol Zakouma, but they're outnumbered by poachers—and outgunned. In the past eight years, six guards have been killed by

poachers, and at least six poachers by guards.

After ivory poachers hacked the face off a 20-year-old elephant, park guards were left with few clues and a cold trail.

Park guards will lock up these tusks, but the men who killed the elephant got away. Seizures of illegal ivory reached record levels in 2005. In China

—the fastest growing consumer—dealers sell worked ivory on the Internet, shipping it worldwide.

Two lion cubs in Zakouma were orphaned after their mother likely drank from a poisoned water hole.

To affix a radiotracking collar, a team from Zakouma surrounds an elephant named Annie—on her side after

being sedated by a dart—and her baby.

Water holes are in short supply at the end of the dry season, when as many as 500 elephants can converge on this pool near Tinga. By June, torrential rains engulf the park, and the herds leave in search of better

food. At Zakouma, sanctuary comes and goes with the seasons.