We are spending the night in the bush under millions of stars, near a vast, open plain and a water hole that attracts a large quantity of wildlife. At a distance, a lion call briefly interrupts our thoughts. The next morning we will attend the capture operation of an elephant. A collar with a radio emitter will be attached to his neck, to follow the movements of his herd — all in the name of conservation research.

Before dawn we are on our way, entering deep into Zakouma National Park. Our group is composed of park rangers, a specialist wildlife vet, a leading environmentalist from Ethiopia and several guests — high officials from Chad and ambassadors representing Denmark, Norway, Brazil, Canada and the European Union. We ambassadors have traveled from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to acknowledge Chad’s efforts to protect its elephants.

The elephants have taken refuge in a dense forest. The vet, followed by two armed rangers, disappears into the thicket as we wait. The elephants are close but invisible. The pilot of a small aircraft, hovering in the sky above them and controlling the operation, informs the team on the ground that there are more than 300 animals. The wind is stable, making the approach somewhat easy. It is hot and dry.

A few hundred meters in front of us, the vet has removed his shoes and walked quietly inside the herd. From 30 meters (32 yards) away, he takes aim at one elephant’s upper rear leg and lets the tranquilizer dart fly. The rest of the herd immediately runs away.

At the vet’s signal, we approach the giant animal, down on his side, panting in the heat. We watch as the collar is secured around his neck. An antidote is then injected so that the animal is almost immediately back on his feet, slightly shaky at first. His first movement is to feel the collar with his trunk. Then he gasps air through his trump, moves a bit and flaps his ears before instinctively running toward the rest of his herd.

Sobering realities

Less than 40 years ago, an estimated 1.3 million elephants roamed across Africa. Today, fewer than 425,000 remain. Poaching has resumed on a large scale, and 17,000 African elephants were killed in 2011 alone, according to CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

The reasons for this dramatic situation are multiple:

• persistent demand for ivory, especially from Asia
• demographic growth and a resulting loss of elephant habitat
• poor governance, due to lack of appreciation for the value of the elephant
• poverty, which pushes communities to over-exploit resources and makes them vulnerable to abuse by criminal networks

The elephant, a charismatic symbol of the African continent, has been included since 1989 on CITES’ list of most endangered species. In West and Central Africa especially, elephants are disappearing to the point that the situation has become critical. Chad is one country that has decided to act decisively.

Chad’s response

Zakouma National Park, in the southeast of Chad, was the country’s first national park, created in 1963 and currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. The park’s more than 3,000 square kilometers encompass a combination of fertile soils and water systems that can support a huge animal biomass.

Extensive elephant poaching, however, has reduced Zakouma’s herd from an estimated 4,300 in 2002 to fewer than 400 today. In 2010, African Parks Foundation assumed management of the park, in partnership with the government of Chad and the European Union, which has helped fund the park since 1989. The EU ambassador to Chad, Hélène Cavé, applauds Chad for recognizing “the importance of conservation as a fundamental part of her development.”

APF manages seven parks across the continent, with hopes of doubling that number by 2020. Its goal of protecting wildlife includes collaring and tracking endangered animals in order to assess how best to prevent poaching.

During Chad’s dry season, elephants stay close to water sources within the park limits, where rangers on horseback can more easily protect them from poachers. But when the rains come, elephants follow their instincts to familiar travel routes outside Zakouma. Rangers do their best to follow and protect them from poachers.

Park authorities therefore involve the surrounding communities in the elephants’ protection — installing radios in each village so that threats from poachers can be quickly reported. One long-term goal is to expand the park’s perimeter in order to create a stable wider entity.

The challenges of Zakouma National Park mirror those of the African continent. The battle to save the continent’s last elephants — the remaining representatives of an emblematic species that once populated the plains and forests by the millions — is intrinsically linked to Africa’s sustainable and diversified development.