The Lost Elephants of Timbuktu (2001)

Onehundred strong the herd slowly makes its way through the shifting sands following the promise of ephemeral desert rains This is the remarkable precarious and untold story of a lost herd of elephants that live near the fabled city of Timbuktu How the elephants survive in this seemingly barren desolate landscape is a mystery It is one however that Anne Orlando a biologist from the University of California hopes to unravel For the first time she will track the elephants to uncharted lands and reveal the relationship they have with Tuareg nomads a relationship which can be both respectful and bloody The lost elephants of Timbuktu are completely isolated from other African elephants they were cut off from each other as the Sahara turned to desert centuries ago They have survived in this unlikely setting by having a mental map of scattered temporary lakes and marshes