Elephants Alive, Hoedspruit

to ensure the survival of elephants and their habitats

In 1998, Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save The Elephants (STE) and Marlene May, Trustee of STE and owner of Tanda Tula Safari Camp, initiated the first elephant collaring operation in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve west of the Kruger National Park.

Early in 2000, Iain and Marlene heard of Michelle Henley who was working on her PhD on elephants in the area.  Michelle and her mother had begun an individual recognition study of elephants in this region in 1996, and this study as was later to form the basis of Elephants Alive’s existing ID studies.

While completing her PhD, Michelle joined Iain and Marlene in setting up the STE SA Research Programme based at Tanda Tula. Marlene and her late husband, David, provided the vision and critical start up finance to fund research on collared elephants. This for 14 years was the centre of operations for the elephant studies and conservation endeavours.

The project grew from strength to strength, and in 2014 Elephants Alive budded off from STE SA to form its own NGO working in collaboration with STE.  In 2021, Elephants Alive transitioned to a Not for Profit Company.

Elephants Alive’s work and sphere of influence continues to expand west of Kruger and across borders North into Zimbabwe and East Mozambique.