The Census will allow the Angolan government nationally and locally to form strategic plans for establishing eco-tourism ventures which will benefit local communities and help mitigate potential lures toward poaching and other human-elephant conflict.

Angola is an important and mysterious elephant range that scientists know very little about. We know that elephants have historically made a home in Southeast Angola, but we don’t know their current population status or their distribution. This survey opportunity will allow Dr. Mike Chase and the survey team for Great Elephant Census to fly over the area and gather up-to-date information on the population status, as well as an elephant mortality and carcass estimate for Angola’s elusive elephants. The census data is intended to be distributed to wildlife authorities, international bodies and the general public to inform conservation strategies, and will be an important contribution to the holistic pan-African census report, which is the ultimate goal of the Great Elephant Census.

The Great Elephant Census will also offer an assessment on general wildlife numbers, distributions and trends in the area, and provide an aerial review of Angola’s vital water sources; the Southeastern Angola rivers that provide 70% of the water to the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and critical ecosystem in nearby Botswana. This overview will help inform conservation assessments on the status of rivers in Angola, and will help identify and respond to potential drought dangers which could impact other parts of Africa.