On the 4th day at Mara we were called out to attend an elephant suffering from a spear wound. These are the biggest elephants I have ever seen in the wild and one was radio collared to follow its movements. There were three old bulls hanging out with each other. After a 2 hour bone jarring drive we arrived on scene. Once again KWS wardens were already on scene. I am so impressed with their commitment. On darting the elephant whom succumbed to the M99 within 6 minutes as luck would have it he fell on the wrong side. Once again we had to rapidly turn him over with the help of ropes and vehicles. There was an obvious stab wound that was exuding blood and pus. We immediately began to clean and disinfect wound. The portable pulse Oximiter attached to its ear was emitting a powerful heartbeat and was music to our ears. There was a large lump raised above the entry wound which I cut in with my pocket knife. On exploring the wound with my finger I immediately encountered an object which scratched into my finger. In Kenya spear wounds are very common as probably this is the only defence farmers and citizens have to defend against elephant intrusions. Unfortunately in the case of poachers they use an extremely powerful poison to put on the spear tip. This poison is made from a concoction of local plants and roots and it is so toxic that one drop can kill ten men. I continued to work on the wound in the back of my mind fearing that it would be poisoned and it would be my last day on earth as of yet there has been no antidote made for this poison. Fortunately I felt on ill effects and we managed to finish cleaning out the wounds and administer antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The elephant immediately woke up and headed to re-join his two companions.
