This post is by Alyne Fortgang, of Humane Voters Washington.
Elephant Sands is a modest lodge in Botswana which was started by Marie and Ben Moller out of their love for elephants. Tragically, Marie suddenly passed away a few months ago. Ben’s daughter and son-in-law do much of the heavy lifting now. Their story has been made into a must-see documentary titled Elephant Refugees. It is available on several streaming services including YouTube and TUBI for free without commercials. If you don’t have any of the streaming services, you can watch it for free on YouTube but with commercials. It received a rare, and well deserved, 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Botswana had become a sanctuary for elephants due to its ban on hunting. The elephants would pour in from all the surrounding countries. Botswana has the highest population of elephants of any country in the world. Elephants knew they could safely travel to Elephant Sands to find water. They came from far and wide to survive—especially during times of drought.
All the water is trucked in to Elephant Sands three times a day by a double tanker. The road is sand and can’t support the weight of their tanker truck, so the Mollers built an 8.5 mile pipeline. Three Solar pumps in three locations outside of Elephant Sands are used to pump water 8 hours a day. If they had a more powerful pump that could work 24 hours a day, they could provide water for about 2,500 elephants instead of 800. When water is scarce, the elephants come first and the swimming pool for tourists at the lodge is emptied. Botswana being a safe haven for elephants all changed in 2019 when a new president was elected and he lifted the ban on hunting elephants. About 2.5 million acres surrounding Elephant Sands is now a year-round killing field. The government cited lifting the ban on killing elephants due to overpopulation of elephants, human-elephant conflict, destruction of crops, and the millions of dollars permits could raise for the country.
The elephants still come looking for water. But now they are aggravated and traumatized by seeing their kin being killed. Elephant Sands is not in the delta region where most tourists go to the swanky lodges, but in Nata, in the middle of nowhere. Booking tourists is critical to being able to afford water but you can help without making the trek to Nata.
The Moller family does so much with so little. Will you help them afford a more powerful pump? You can donate through Elephant Refugees filmmaker’s website to get the U.S. tax deduction. (Please designate that your donation is for Elephant Sands). The filmmaker can also be reached via Facebook.
If you choose to contribute directly to Elephant Sands, you may write to them by email for the bank details for WATER FOR ELEPHANTS TRUST.