Elephant Crisis Fund

Elephant Crisis Fund The ECF is helping prevent the ivory crisis and ensuring elephants are no longer under threat.

It is run by Save the Elephants and Wildlife Conservation Network. The ECF, launched in 2013 supports projects across Africa and in ivory consuming countries which aim to stop the killing of elephants, prevent the trafficking, and put an end to the buying of ivory. Funding is given with minimal bureaucracy and no administrative deductions to allow donors to have maximum impact, and for partners to

act quickly and effectively. To date, the ECF has supported 310 projects from 88 organisations across 40 countries each vetted for their efficiency and impact. With the continued generosity of our donors, the best ideas and most urgent actions to end the ivory crisis and ensure elephants are no longer under threat receive the support they need so that Africa remains wild with elephants.

We are proud to announce that we have just approved our largest-ever single grant - $1.2M for a project that is working ...
06/11/2026

We are proud to announce that we have just approved our largest-ever single grant - $1.2M for a project that is working to bring a special population of forest elephants back from the brink. 🌳 🐘

The Elephant Crisis Fund is a joint initiative between Save the Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network.

The funds have been allocated to scaling up Project Nzau, an ambitious project led by the Fundação Kissama, in partnership with BIOPOLIS, to protect Angola’s forest elephants - the southernmost population in Africa.

Their plight only recently came to light - fewer than 200 elephants survive in fragmented forests here, with virtually no protection. They face mounting threats including deforestation, poaching, road accidents, and growing conflict with farming communities.

This funding will help Project Nzau attempt to save this vulnerable elephant population through science, community engagement, and conflict reduction.

Stay tuned for more on how this funding will help protect Angola's elephants.

📸 Afonso Vaz Pinto / Kissama Foundation

Concerning news from Malawi on the dropping of corruption charges against Chinese wildlife criminal Yunhua Lin, paving t...
06/10/2026

Concerning news from Malawi on the dropping of corruption charges against Chinese wildlife criminal Yunhua Lin, paving the way for his release from prison. Lin received a presidential pardon last year, after receiving a 14 year custodial sentence in 2021 for wildlife crime and money laundering, but has been held in custody pending conclusion of the corruption proceedings.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3S2LQlo

A magical sighting of elephants with young calves in Upemba National Park - UNP in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spo...
06/05/2026

A magical sighting of elephants with young calves in Upemba National Park - UNP in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spotted from the ECF-funded Bat Hawk ultralight aircraft. Aerial surveillance and law enforcement operations have resumed in Upemba, following the tragic attack on the park headquarters by Mai Mai rebels in March - testament to the resilience of the Upemba team and their dedication to protecting the elephants and other wildlife of this remarkable, biodiverse landscape.

🎥 📸 Bright Uzunga

What does it take to establish a patrol station in one of the world’s most challenging landscapes? 🌳For the Nduye Patrol...
06/04/2026

What does it take to establish a patrol station in one of the world’s most challenging landscapes? 🌳

For the Nduye Patrol Station in Okapi Wildlife Reserve, in DRC: years of perseverance to overcome the logistical, administrative and physical hurdles of construction in a remote area with poor road access, and to enhance community engagement, in the face of escalating insecurity across the region.

Now fully operational, Nduye serves as the eastern central sector base for the nearly 14,000 sq km reserve co-managed by our partner, WCS RD CONGO with the ICCN. The ECF co-funded the renovation of the Nduye patrol post into this new base, as well as a Land Cruiser supporting law-enforcement operations from the station.

The base houses up to 60 eco guards and provides stable communications in an area threatened by ivory poachers, illegal gold miners, and armed groups.

And, we’re not stopping there. Support for Okapi has now been extended through 2027, funding security upgrades and a new patrol station in the northwest of the reserve.

📸 Réserve de Faune à Okapis (Okapi Wildlife Reserve)

06/02/2026

A significant step forward for human-wildlife coexistence in Kariba, Nyaminyami. The Ward 9 Elephant Coexistence Hub is on the horizon and will serve as a dedicated space for community-driven solutions, knowledge sharing, and sustainable conservation practice. Proud to be supporting this.

Knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied! Congratulations to the latest cohort of Save the Elephants' Training of Traine...
05/24/2026

Knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied! Congratulations to the latest cohort of Save the Elephants' Training of Trainers - ECF partner African People & Wildlife, Tanzania National Parks Authority, Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. It's rewarding to see these graduates already stepping up as coexistence champions in Tanzania, helping communities live peacefully alongside elephants. 🙌🐘

On Mount Elgon, Kenya, elephants venture deep into ancient caves at night, chiselling mineral-rich rock with their tusks...
05/20/2026

On Mount Elgon, Kenya, elephants venture deep into ancient caves at night, chiselling mineral-rich rock with their tusks to extract salt, a tradition passed down through generations. 🐘

These same elephants raid crops on the farms that border their forest. Or they did.

Thanks to the groundbreaking research of Dr. Lucy King and Save the Elephants, we know African elephants are naturally deterred by bees. That insight gave rise to beehive fences, hives strung along farm boundaries that keep elephants out while producing honey for the families who tend them. Today communities across Africa and Asia are putting this nature-based solution to work. 🐝

On Mount Elgon, our partner The East African Wild Life Society Mount Elgon Elephant Project has been doing exactly that with the community of Kongit. Zero crop raids on protected farms since the fences went up. Now, with ECF support, they are building a Coexistence Hub which will act as a communal beekeeping facility that will give the local beekeepers' group, led by women and youth, a permanent home to process and grow their honey business. 🍯

Today we celebrate the power of bees, the beekeeping communities at the heart of these efforts, and all our incredible partners working to promote human-elephant coexistence. 💛

Over 14,000 hives, 100 sites, 24 countries and counting. 🐝 🌍Beehive fences - one of the most innovative, community-led s...
05/20/2026

Over 14,000 hives, 100 sites, 24 countries and counting. 🐝 🌍

Beehive fences - one of the most innovative, community-led solutions to human-elephant conflict - are spreading further than we ever imagined. Farmers across Africa and Asia are using the natural power of bees to protect their crops and live peacefully alongside elephants. And that deserves a celebration. 🙌

We're building a master map to show just how far this innovation has travelled, and we need your help to complete it. 🗺️

Do you use a beehive fence? Know a farmer, organisation or community that does? Show us your hive.

Post your photos, tag us, and we'll reshare your stories to celebrate the beehive fence community this World Bee Day.

📥 And if you want to be added to our global beehive fence map, send your location and details to Aash at [email protected].

We’ll put you on the map - literally. And once it’s complete, we'll do a big reveal. ✨

📸 Jane Wynyard, Meha Kumar, Aash Wason, Jessica Van Fleteren, Naiya Raja, Wild Survivors and courtesy of TEF.

Restor.eco

Last month, our team visited Okomu National Park in Nigeria, home to one of the last remaining populations of forest ele...
05/15/2026

Last month, our team visited Okomu National Park in Nigeria, home to one of the last remaining populations of forest elephants in Nigeria.

ECF grantee ANI_Foundation (ANI) has been working here with the Nigeria National Park Service since 2023, to protect the elephants and their rainforest habitat from intensive illegal logging and other threats. In the past year alone, rangers completed 189 patrols covering 5,581km and making 56 arrests.

During the visit, the team explored parts of the forest previously marred by the constant sounds of chainsaws, but now only marked by the sounds of the many species that find refuge here.

Our team also met a forest elephant calf that was found late last year wandering alone in a nearby oil palm plantation. Community members raised the alarm, rangers searched for his herd, and when none could be located, the decision was made to hand-raise him. He is now stable and doing well, under the care of ANI and partners.

Forest elephants are critically endangered, with fewer than 150,000 estimated to remain across Africa. On Endangered Species Day, we celebrate the work of partners like ANI across the ECF network, protecting elephants and other precious species.

📸 Jophie Clark / Save the Elephants

Great work from our partners at Connected Conservation on the ground in Victoria Falls, from QR-enabled reporting tools ...
05/13/2026

Great work from our partners at Connected Conservation on the ground in Victoria Falls, from QR-enabled reporting tools to new wildlife safety signage and the establishment of the Human-Wildlife Conflict Response Unit. Initiatives like these are quietly but meaningfully shifting the dial with improving public awareness, wildlife reporting and rapid response capacity across one of Africa's most important elephant landscapes. This is what community-led coexistence looks like in practice, and we're proud to be supporting it.

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