By Xinhua writers Zheng Mengyu, Xie Jianfei
NAIROBI, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- In August, wildlife migration across East Africa reaches one of its busiest periods, drawing visitors from around the world to Kenya's vast savannas.
Across Amboseli, Maasai Mara and Tsavo, safari vehicles set out in search of lions, rhinos and cheetahs, while many visitors hope for an encounter with the world's largest land animal -- the African elephant.
Safari has also become increasingly popular among young Chinese travelers, with phrases such as "saving up for a trip to Kenya" and "go on safari at least once in a lifetime" frequently appearing on Chinese social media.
But beyond the safari routes lies a more complicated relationship between people and elephants.
Ahead of World Elephant Day on Aug. 12, a visit to communities surrounding Kenya's Amboseli National Park shows that for local residents, elephants are not simply animals to be photographed. They are neighbors sharing the same landscape.
For Maasai communities, encounters with elephants can sometimes come at a cost. Elephants may enter farms, trample crops, disturb livestock and, in some cases, injure people.
"Our work is not to drive elephants away, but to make sure both people and elephants are safe," said Purity Lakara, a female Maasai ranger.
When elephants are reported near villages or farmland, rangers rush to the scene, advise residents to keep their distance and use non-lethal methods to guide the animals away.
Conservation, however, is not only about protecting wildlife. It also needs to bring tangible benefits to the people living alongside it.
Some conservation programs in the area have helped communities improve access to water and other basic services, while encouraging local residents to take part in wildlife monitoring, early warning and protection.
"Years ago, most Maasai people did not like elephants," said Maasai resident Daniel Mulandi.
Mulandi showed a visitor photographs of elephants on his phone. Earlier this year, he spent the final night with Craig, one of Amboseli's famous "super tuskers," who died of natural causes at the age of 54.
For Mulandi, elephants have gradually changed from a source of conflict into part of the community's natural heritage.
That change has taken place against a long history of elephant poaching.
During the 1970s and 1980s, African elephants suffered a severe poaching crisis driven by demand for ivory. Their numbers fell sharply across the continent. In 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora imposed an international ban on commercial ivory trade.
A decade on, the picture is mixed. Poaching has eased from its peak, and some savanna elephant populations in southern Africa have stabilized or begun a slow recovery. But the latest IUCN assessment, released in November 2025, still lists the African forest elephant as critically endangered, with habitat fragmentation from mining, roads and large-scale agriculture emerging as a growing threat alongside the ivory trade.
In recent years, stronger anti-poaching measures, habitat protection, international cooperation and greater community participation have helped improve elephant conservation in parts of Africa. Yet habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and illegal killing remain long-term challenges.
In Nairobi, the consequences of these challenges can be seen at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Nairobi Nursery, where orphaned elephants are cared for after losing their mothers to poaching, human-wildlife conflict, drought and other causes.
The young elephants are fed milk, cared for by keepers and gradually taught the skills they need to survive in the wild. The purpose is not to keep them in captivity, but to give them a second chance to return to nature.
"Ecosystems need elephants, and elephants are also important to building resilience to climate change," said Evan Mwavua Mkala, programs manager at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
According to Mkala, Kenya's elephant population has increased from about 16,000 in 1990 to around 42,000 today, reflecting the combined impact of stronger laws and enforcement and community-centered conservation.
The idea that wildlife protection should involve people as well as animals can also be seen thousands of kilometers away in southwest China.
In 2020 and 2021, a herd of Asian elephants traveled more than 1,300 kilometers northward from their traditional habitat in Yunnan Province. As the elephants passed through populated areas, authorities used monitoring and early-warning systems and managed human activity along their route to keep residents and elephants at a safe distance.
The herd eventually turned south and returned toward suitable habitat.
The journey attracted global attention, but also offered a practical lesson: protecting wildlife is not always about keeping people and animals completely apart. It can also mean finding ways for them to share the same landscape safely.
As elephant populations recover in some parts of Africa, human-elephant conflict, habitat protection, community livelihoods and tourism will remain closely connected.
Conservation ultimately comes down to a practical question: how can people and wildlife continue to share the same home?
For elephants, it means a landscape where they can move freely and grow old without the threat of guns, traps or poisoned arrows.
For people, it means being able to live, farm and raise livestock in safety.
Between the two lies the long, practical work of conservation -- not keeping people and wildlife apart at all costs, but finding ways for both to remain part of the same home.
