0:00:04 > 0:00:07Now on BBC News, we take a look at the precarious future
0:00:07 > 0:00:09of the African elephant.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Poachers are wiping out the elephants to feed
0:00:12 > 0:00:13Asia's hunger for ivory.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15As Kenya burns the biggest haul of tusks in history,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19the BBC's Alastair Leithead joins the war on poaching in the Congo
0:00:19 > 0:00:22and meets the hunters saving Namibia's elephants.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24The film contains some graphic content that some viewers
0:00:24 > 0:00:29might find upsetting.
0:00:29 > 0:00:3330,000 to 40,000 elephants are being killed for their tasks every year,
0:00:33 > 0:00:38and there are maybe only 400,000 left.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42You can see its ivory tusks have been cut away.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45The only way to protect them is to be better than the
0:00:45 > 0:00:54opponents and the poachers.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55We meet the man who killed the elephants.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59TRANSLATION: I don't regret it.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01I feel heroic, because they terrorise us.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02They invade our farms.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04And at the trafficking hub of Africa, we meet those
0:01:05 > 0:01:05who transport their tusks.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07They are very smart, intelligent people,
0:01:07 > 0:01:08and they are well connected.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And as the killing continues, there is debate about how best
0:01:11 > 0:01:12to save the elephants.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16It is going to die in a few years anyway, why let it die of old age
0:01:16 > 0:01:18if it can raise money for the community?
0:01:18 > 0:01:28If the crisis isn't tackled, this could all be gone in a generation.
0:01:33 > 0:01:41These men are on the front line of conservation in Africa.
0:01:41 > 0:01:48They're trying to save the elephants in a place surrounded by civil war.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51trying to stop heavily armed groups who will do anything
0:01:51 > 0:01:52to get their hands on ivory.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56You can see it's hard going, but this is the best time
0:01:56 > 0:02:01time of year to come.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Normally, this grass is 3.5 metres high.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07100 rangers, for 14,000 square kilometres of forest
0:02:07 > 0:02:12land, scrub and marsh,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14with streams to cross and tall savannah grasslands to navigate.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It's a game of cat and mouse for the poachers, who track
0:02:17 > 0:02:23the animals and strike in places far from the nearest road.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Well, after going through this long grass, we came to a clearing
0:02:26 > 0:02:27and found this.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29You could smell the pungent smell of this elephant decomposing.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34It was killed three weeks ago.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37It was clearly killed by a poacher, because its face has been cut off
0:02:37 > 0:02:42and the tusks have been removed.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45And then just swinging around here, ten metres further up,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48where the rangers are sitting, is another one.
0:02:48 > 0:02:54Slightly smaller, same thing.
0:02:54 > 0:03:04Over the time, it's obviously had vultures humming here.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Other animals, scavengers have come and picked away at it.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10We did our best to follow their footprints, one of the rangers
0:03:10 > 0:03:19told me, but they lost the trail and the poachers were long gone.
0:03:19 > 0:03:26It's a tragically common sight in Garamba, one of the oldest
0:03:26 > 0:03:28national parks in Africa, but now one of its most dangerous,
0:03:28 > 0:03:35for the animals and for those trying to protect them.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37The Northern Democratic Republic of Congo has been
0:03:37 > 0:03:39unstable for many years.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44South Sudan is in civil war.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47The Central African Republic is struggling.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army is still a threat.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53It's not a good neighbourhood for conservation.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57But a group called African Parks is trying,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59by taking over management.
0:03:59 > 0:04:05This park has, to a large extent, been basically poached out
0:04:05 > 0:04:07by numerous armed groups.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13I think Garamba is probably today at the forefront of conservation
0:04:13 > 0:04:16in terms of dangers.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21I don't think there are many other places which have so many threats
0:04:21 > 0:04:23to one park as we have here.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29So it is really on the edge.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33At the end of the '70s, there were over 22,000 elephants here.
0:04:33 > 0:04:43Only eight years ago, there were at least 4,000 elephants.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47I would put it at 200-400 elephants today.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49So 90% of what there was has gone?
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Exactly.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53African Parks is putting its rangers through military training,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58improving their fitness and skills.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01They have barely 100 rangers, and a similar number of Congolese
0:05:01 > 0:05:06troops assigned to the park.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08They would like three times as many to protect
0:05:08 > 0:05:16the park effectively.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Few hit the mark.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20The weapons stick, the ammunition is old and the risks are
0:05:20 > 0:05:29significant, because the poachers are much better armed and prepared.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31TRANSLATION: They work like an army, with tactics
0:05:31 > 0:05:32and good training.
0:05:32 > 0:05:42They have better training and more experience than us.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46They go out for nine-day patrols, trying to stop the poachers
0:05:46 > 0:05:48before they strike.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51It's a militarised form of conservation, funded mainly
0:05:51 > 0:05:55by the European Union and private donors.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00It doesn't pay for itself, as even the most adventurous
0:06:00 > 0:06:08tourists won't take these risks.
0:06:08 > 0:06:16While pursuing poachers, this ranger's patrol was ambushed
0:06:16 > 0:06:19by 40 heavily armed men on horseback, probably from Sudan.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Four rangers were killed, one injured.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25We need more people, he said, as there aren't
0:06:25 > 0:06:28enough of us to do this job in such a huge park.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Also new equipment, better rations and more roads
0:06:30 > 0:06:39for quicker deployments.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Some poachers are caught.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44This man was arrested after a tip-off.
0:06:44 > 0:06:53He and two others were found with ivory in their car.
0:06:53 > 0:07:01The tusks are stored, the suspects questioned.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04If local people benefit from the park through jobs
0:07:04 > 0:07:07and the security it brings to the area, they are more likely
0:07:07 > 0:07:09to value their presence and help them keep the wildlife.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13But despite fewer elephants getting killed, the poaching
0:07:13 > 0:07:20is still going on, right under the rangers' noses.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Word suddenly came that the park's pilot had seen circling
0:07:22 > 0:07:28vultures, which led him to a gruesome discovery.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33And there are the carcasses, down by the river.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Five of them, one a baby, and a sixth we have spotted
0:07:36 > 0:07:38further up the river.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It is hard to make up from here, but you can see that their faces
0:07:41 > 0:07:45have been cut off, the tusks have been taken.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06It's a very different picture below the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Africa's highest mountain.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14The elephants here are thriving.
0:08:14 > 0:08:24But some elephants are still being killed.
0:08:24 > 0:08:31And the country remains at the heart of Africa's trafficking routes.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36The ivory in this strongroom here in Nairobi represents the tusks
0:08:36 > 0:08:39of thousands of elephants.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45If this was to reach Asia, it would make ?60 million.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49An illegal ivory trade worth billions traverses the globe.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Esmond Bradley-Martin has devoted much of his life
0:08:51 > 0:08:54to following the money and tracking the trade.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59Corruption is probably the single biggest cause of the increase
0:08:59 > 0:09:07in elephant poaching, corruption at all levels.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Most ivory now is going out of Africa
0:09:09 > 0:09:10through Dar es Salaam and Mombasa,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12so there is corruption in those ports as well.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Then it has to be shipped over to Asia, mostly Vietnam and China,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18and there is corruption there getting it through.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21There is corruption all the way along the line, and it has
0:09:21 > 0:09:31increased significantly.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38We're close to the Tsavo National Parks in Kenya,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42and we're heading off to meet three men who are involved in poaching
0:09:42 > 0:09:45here, one of whom says he has a stash of ivory which he is trying
0:09:45 > 0:09:48to sell at the moment to other men involved in the process of killing
0:09:48 > 0:09:50the elephants and taking the ivory from them.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53The poachers took us to a secluded spot and asked us
0:09:53 > 0:09:55not to identify them.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59They admitted killing elephants and selling the ivory to middlemen.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01TRANSLATION: We choose an elephant by looking at the size
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and killing the biggest one.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07How easy is it to kill an elephant with a poisoned arrow?
0:10:07 > 0:10:09The poison is very strong.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14You have to find a soft place to shoot, below the ear.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18One of the men, who called himself Master, sells the ivory on.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21TRANSLATION: We don't sell directly to the Chinese,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24but we go through local brokers who rip us off.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30We get maybe ?35 a kilogram, but they sell it for a lot more.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Although Kenya has reduced poaching, Master says it is not easy to stop.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37The authorities collude with us.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40We collude with them, and once we sell the tusks,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42we give them the money.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Bribery and corruption is at the essence of how
0:10:45 > 0:10:48you are able to do what you do.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Yeah, bribery and corruption makes it easier, as the salaries
0:10:51 > 0:10:54they are paid is not enough.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Do you regret the fact that you are killing these animals
0:10:57 > 0:10:58that are endangered?
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I don't regret it.
0:11:00 > 0:11:08I feel heroic, because they terrorise us.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10They invade our farms, and we don't get any
0:11:10 > 0:11:14compensation, so you end up with no food and no money.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15This is small scale.
0:11:15 > 0:11:22Most of the ivory being recovered in Kenya is in transit.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25It's on its way from places like Garamba or Tanzania
0:11:25 > 0:11:28to the port of Mombasa.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It's there we found a shipping agent, who agreed to speak to us
0:11:31 > 0:11:33about the illegal trade.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38He admitted helping to smuggle tusks concealed in containers.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Someone comes and tells you, we have goods.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43This is a special consignment.
0:11:43 > 0:11:53It has to pass through without being checked.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57So we talk to the guys at the port and they let it go through.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59And how much would he have to pay?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01$10,000 is the minimum, because it's not just one person
0:12:02 > 0:12:02who gets the money.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05There are security guys, officials, even in my company,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07there are guys who have to be given something.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09But you never know who is behind it.
0:12:09 > 0:12:19If it's not the Somalis, it's the Arabs or the Chinese.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21It's a cartel.
0:12:21 > 0:12:22They are very smart, intelligent people,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25and they are well connected.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27The last big haul here was 2013.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Peter says that is only because security officials
0:12:29 > 0:12:35were not bribed enough.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38He says a huge shipment left at the end of last year.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44The authorities are fighting back.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Kenya wildlife service is using ivory dogs
0:12:47 > 0:12:49in the port and here
0:12:49 > 0:12:50at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55They are trained to sniff out even something the size of a bangle.
0:12:55 > 0:13:04While most finds in suitcases are small, they recently recovered
0:13:04 > 0:13:07over 64 kilos of tusks hidden in air freight.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Wherever the smoking gun lies, we will apprehend them.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Two weeks ago, based on a tip-off, we were able to apprehend people
0:13:14 > 0:13:23in a government vehicle, administration police,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26a couple of them armed and trying to sell some illegal ivory.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29So we will go after whoever we need to.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32There have been some arrests in Kenya and Tanzania,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35many denials and few convictions.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Fines are often paid in lieu of jail time.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43This woman has been called Tanzania's ivory queen.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46She is on trial, but denies trading 700 tusks and leading
0:13:47 > 0:13:54an organised crime ring.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56The Kenya government is keen to send a strong message.
0:13:56 > 0:14:05Every piece of ivory in its store has been carefully recorded,
0:14:05 > 0:14:10and has been transported tusk by tusk to be destroyed in the biggest
0:14:10 > 0:14:11in the biggest ivory burn in history.
0:14:11 > 0:14:17The reason is to essentially make a statement to the world
0:14:17 > 0:14:19that we are, number one, committed to conservation,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23and to underline the fact that we don't believe
0:14:23 > 0:14:26that there ought to be any value attributed to ivory and rhino horn,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30except on elephants and rhinos.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33The way to save the elephants and stop the slaughter
0:14:33 > 0:14:40is to persuade people that buying ivory is no longer acceptable.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44China has pledged to end its legal domestic ivory trade,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48but despite a campaign to make people aware of the devastating
0:14:48 > 0:14:49effect of poaching on elephants,
0:14:49 > 0:14:56it's still the world's biggest consumer.
0:14:56 > 0:15:02Elephants seem to always get hammered in modern history
0:15:02 > 0:15:07time you have a rapid expansion of middle class.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Looking at Victorian England,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13this is the time when colonial Britain imported more ivory
0:15:13 > 0:15:15than any country in the world.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17But it's also the time when you had the greatest expansion
0:15:17 > 0:15:19of the middle class in the UK.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23The same thing is happening in China today.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26We are witnessing the most rapid expansion of middle class in China,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28and people, to show status, to show wealth and prestige,
0:15:28 > 0:15:36will invest in ivory in the same way that Victorian England did.
0:15:36 > 0:15:43This is how they are sending a strong message in China,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45crushing rather than burning the tusks.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50There is a high-profile campaign against ivory.
0:15:50 > 0:15:51So they eat grass over there,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56and then they come to the river and play together.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02This is one of China's biggest film stars,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06with more than 40 million followers on Chinese Twitter.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09She's just one of the high-profile names on social media persuading
0:16:09 > 0:16:13people to boycott ivory products.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15People keep poaching them.
0:16:15 > 0:16:24But perhaps more could be done.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26China has to come to Africa
0:16:26 > 0:16:27and station their own law enforcement investigators
0:16:27 > 0:16:29to collaborate and work directly with Africans.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31They can help the governments put together the cases
0:16:31 > 0:16:41and try them here.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And there is another way of protecting the elephants,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48by making sure they are worth more to the local community living
0:16:49 > 0:16:53than they are to poachers dead.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59Tourists come to Kenya for its wildlife, but often visit
0:16:59 > 0:17:01villages in the Maasai Mara.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04That raises money and gives people the chance to sell handmade local
0:17:04 > 0:17:05crafts, but there is more to it.
0:17:05 > 0:17:15Communities also lease out their land for private tourist
0:17:16 > 0:17:18lodges or to create wildlife conservancies, places
0:17:18 > 0:17:23where cattle grazing is reduced.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25They get regular cash payments, and it makes people more likely
0:17:25 > 0:17:35to chase poachers away.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Now the community are earning something from the conservancy.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40So there is not higher poaching, not like the times when there
0:17:40 > 0:17:42was a lot of poaching.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45But living so close to wildlife brings its problems.
0:17:45 > 0:17:51The population is increasing, as are the number of cattle.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Nearby national parks, there is often conflict
0:17:53 > 0:17:56between humans and wildlife.
0:17:56 > 0:18:06Crops are destroyed, and some people are killed.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12This man explained how his ten-year-old grandson was tending
0:18:12 > 0:18:15the cattle very close to the house when he was attacked by an elephant.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17The boy was gorged and crushed to death.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20200 villagers gathered with spears and went in pursuit, he said.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25At least two elephants were killed and others badly injured.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28A baby elephant was orphaned.
0:18:28 > 0:18:38As the pressure for land increases, this conflict will only grow.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41There are places in Africa
0:18:41 > 0:18:42where elephant numbers are increasing.
0:18:42 > 0:18:52One is Namibia.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57The concept of conservancies, communities managing
0:18:57 > 0:19:05the wildlife to generate income, started here.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07This strip is a hangover from colonial days, giving
0:19:07 > 0:19:10what was then German West Africa access to the great Zambezi River.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16It's now a major transit route for elephants heading
0:19:16 > 0:19:23heading to the stunning Okavango Delta in Botswana.
0:19:23 > 0:19:24Few tourists bring their money here,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26so they have a more controversial approach
0:19:26 > 0:19:32to saving the elephants.
0:19:32 > 0:19:41Hunting.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45I've been out on game drives before where you go out in a vehicle
0:19:45 > 0:19:47and look for animals, but it's weird going out knowing
0:19:47 > 0:19:50that if we see a buffalo or even trails for a buffalo,
0:19:50 > 0:19:55these guys are going to go out and shoot it.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58This hunting expedition has paid handsomely for their licence.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Yesterday morning, it was travelling this way.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04A lone bull.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11They are searching for fresh footprints to pick up a trail.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13For shooting a buffalo or an elephant, the community can
0:20:13 > 0:20:14make more than $10,000.
0:20:14 > 0:20:22People who are against hunting don't have all the facts.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27We are hunting to take out the older animals.
0:20:27 > 0:20:37It is going to die in a few years anyway.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Why let it die of old age if it can raise money for the community,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47who benefit from it?
0:20:47 > 0:20:48There's a quota.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Only a certain number of each animal can be killed each year,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55and even then all the meat goes to the community,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and it has to be within the boundary of this conservancy.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59People can get very emotional about hunting, whether it be
0:21:00 > 0:21:01for buffalo or elephants or lions.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03But the fact is that tourism in this area doesn't
0:21:03 > 0:21:10bring in enough money, and hunting does.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13When we see it, we have to record in the event book.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18Some of it is spent employing community rangers.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Brutus is a poacher turned gamekeeper.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24They go on daily patrols to record information about carcasses
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and rare animal sightings.
0:21:26 > 0:21:34Their data is used to set hunting quotas.
0:21:34 > 0:21:42We spend this money mostly for development.
0:21:42 > 0:21:50So far, we have managed to buy four transformers for four villages.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And we bought a tractor for us.
0:21:52 > 0:21:59What would happen if hunting wasn't allowed here?
0:21:59 > 0:22:07If hunting is not allowed,
0:22:07 > 0:22:13from hunting stops also.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Stop, there's buffalo.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Check the other side.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Back on the hunt, they have seen a herd of perhaps 200 buffalo.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28But these animals are outside the conservancy,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30inside the national park, so can't be shot.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34The hunters had to look elsewhere.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Tourism works in a number of places, but elephants exist
0:22:36 > 0:22:41beyond scenic landscapes.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43If we're going to demand that Africa keeps certain places
0:22:43 > 0:22:52pristine for animals, either the world is going to have
0:22:52 > 0:22:55to pay for it, or the resources, the living animals will have
0:22:55 > 0:22:56to pay for it in some way.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58In other words, elephants have to be worth more
0:22:58 > 0:23:01to people alive than dead, and that doesn't just
0:23:01 > 0:23:03mean sentimental value from Western tourists,
0:23:03 > 0:23:12it means real money for real communities.
0:23:12 > 0:23:19100 years ago, there were perhaps 10 million elephants in Africa.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24With a combination of poaching,
0:23:24 > 0:23:25population growth and climate change,
0:23:25 > 0:23:35these giants could be confined to history.