observations on the ground and during 
aerial surveys confirm that in the dry 
seasons the elephants at times travel 
and feed far inland, as has been re- 
ported for elephants in similar envi- 
ronments elsewhere. Typically, as a 
dry season progresses, elephants feed 
increasingly on flood-plain vegetation, 
and by late in the season, particularly 
when the drought is severe, this is 
a heavily used food source. 
In addition to food and water, the 
flood plain provides cover. In cool dark 
forests and under the shade of scat- 
tered trees, elephants find protection 
from the baking midday sun. They 
also find refuge from human distur- 
bance deep in dense woodlands or 
thickets. Elephants rarely stay in the 
open or near well-traveled human 
paths during the day. 
As elephants concentrate near the 
flood plain they often raid farms for 
banana, maize, bean, mango, and 
other crop plants. They raid almost 
exclusively at night, usually in the 
small groups in which they generally 
travel. They may be turned back by 
a single-strand fence of vines or barbed 
wire hung with clattering pieces of 
metal at the edge of the farm, or they 
may be repulsed by the farmer and 
his family shouting, banging on pots, 
and lighting fires. If, on the other 
hand, elephants slip into the fields un- 
detected or refuse to be evicted, they 
can do tremendous damage. 
The amount of damage varies 
greatly. Much depends on the severity 
of the dry season, the location of the 
farm (for example, farms near major 
drinking sites are exposed to more dan- 
ger), and the farm’s defenses. Some 
seasons, parts of the region have few 
elephants and farms suffer little; else- 
where damage can range from negli- 
gible to total destruction of a crop. 
Elephants, along with buffaloes, ba- 
boons, waterbucks, and other wild ani- 
mals, have probably raided farm crops 
since the animals and farmers first 
occupied the Tana flood plain to- 
gether. Damage by wildlife — other 
species may be as destructive as ele- 
phants — often depresses a farmer’s 
crop yield, sometimes disastrously. 
But wildlife impacts seem to be a sec- 
ondary influence superimposed on the 
basic level of production made pos- 
sible in a particular season by rainfall 
and floods. If the floods are too low 
or too brief, crops won’t get enough 
water; if the floods are too high or 
i 
