The demand for ivory led to a 30% decline in the elephant population of Africa in the seven years leading up to 2014. Tammie’s talk will discuss her early observations from field work studying the elephants in Akagera today and will discuss the implications for the many orphaned elephants resulting from the latest poaching epidemic.

The story of Akagera National Park, since African Parks joined partners in its management with the Rwandan government in 2009, headlined by the recent reintroduction of lions and rhinos to the area, is one of great hope and possibility for the future of some of Africa's most iconic species.

About Tammie
From the jungles of Borneo, to the plains of Africa, to the black markets of Vietnam, Dr Tammie Matson has been on a mission for over two decades to save endangered wildlife. She has survived charges by lions, been almost crushed by elephants in the Namibian desert, stood up to angry Zimbabwean war veterans and seen first hand the brutal war against ruthless poachers and the bloody carcasses of the wildlife she loves. She has met presidents and traffickers in palaces and tourist markets, journeying to the dark heart of the dark illegal ivory and rhino horn industry in South East Asia.