Horn und Tusk 
Three populations. Nearly two decades without a count. A region ravaged by climate change and terrorism. And a question no one has tried to answer: are they still there?
The last population counts for Cameroon's Sahelian elephants were taken in 2007 — nearly two decades ago. In the years since, three forces have converged to make the situation both more dangerous and more unknown: an expanding terrorist presence, accelerating climate change, and the complete absence of anyone willing to look.
Boko Haram and affiliated groups are active across the Far North Region. Ground surveys are effectively impossible. The last researchers to work here did so under serious personal risk.
The Sahel is one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth. Lake Chad — a critical water source for this corridor — has shrunk by over 90% since the 1960s. The habitat that once sustained these elephants is disappearing.
No government, NGO, or researcher has conducted a modern count. Without data there is no pressure, without pressure there is no action. These elephants have been effectively forgotten.
The Waza and Kalamaloué populations are not fully separate. A transboundary group migrates between both parks and into Northern Nigeria. The two last recorded counts likely include the same individual elephants — the combined figure of roughly 500 almost certainly overstates the number of unique animals. The true population size may be far smaller.
In 2007, the last known count recorded 246 elephants in Waza National Park. Pennaz et al. suggests elephants had already largely abandoned the park by then — driven out by habitat degradation accelerated by climate change, cattle encroachment, and human pressure along the shrinking Lake Chad basin.
Since 2009, Boko Haram has made the surrounding region one of the most dangerous in Africa. Any attempt at a ground survey would require military escort and carries serious personal risk. The park is effectively unmonitored. Reports suggest elephants from Northern Nigeria still migrate through this corridor, but this cannot be confirmed.
If any elephants survive here, they are doing so in a landscape that is simultaneously drying up, militarised, and ignored. The window to act is likely already closed.
Kalamaloué's last recorded count totaled 250 elephants in 2007. As noted above, this population shares individuals with Waza through seasonal migration along the Logone River corridor — meaning these counts almost certainly overlap. The combined figure of roughly 500 overstates the number of unique animals.
The Logone floodplain — historically one of the most productive elephant habitats in Central Africa — has been severely degraded by reduced rainfall and altered river flow linked to climate change. The seasonal flooding that once made this area a critical dry-season refuge has become increasingly unpredictable and shallow.
Boko Haram activity in the Lake Chad basin has further disrupted any remaining wildlife monitoring in this corridor. No research has been conducted in nearly two decades. Whether elephants still use this area regularly, have retreated into Nigeria, or are gone cannot be determined.