In Memoriam: Iain Douglas-Hamilton

His passing, a few days ago, has left a void as large as the one Jane has and in many ways their departure in the same year makes 2025 annus horribilis for nature conservation. It is difficult to summarise the impact that Iain has had on elephants. Iain was the first scientist to start out long time field research on African elephants with his Manyara study in Tanzania in the ‘60s, roughly contemporary to Jane and her work in Gombe. He was the one who goaded the formation of the African Elephant Specialist Group of the IUCN and later set up the African Elephant Database that fuelled the first systematic continent-wide elephant census, something he devised and led in the early years. When the fight was on to save the elephant from rampant poaching and the illegal ivory trade he formed Save the Elephants that over the years combined good science with community based protection for the species. Finally, he was the best ambassador for the species for overt four decades, as was evident once again, just three days ago when I was watching ‘A Life Among Elephants’, the exceptional film on his life that was shown at the CITES meet in Samarkhand, Uzbekistan.

Strangely, it was a CITES meet in 1997 at Harare, Zimbabwe that we first met. I was a callow youth finding my feet in a world into which I had ventured reading Among the Elephants, his landmark book on his early work in Tanzania. That, Jane Goodall’s In the Shadow of Man And E.P Gee’s Wildlife of India were the three books tossed casually across a breakfast table by my father after I had broken the news to my parents about my wanting to be a conservationist. In fact, possibly only to do my zoology degree, for I had no idea of what conservation was at that time except for what I read in their books. Iain and Jane were role models for me, scientists who had left a world of western comforts to live in the forests of Africa and study our non-human compatriots. And then, on the plane from Nairobi to Harare, overhearing my conversation with Perez Olindo, the Kenya Wildlife Service Director who had a seat next to mine, a handsome middle-aged man turns to me from the seats in front and in a soft, understated voice that I came to know well over the years whispered, as if not to disturb the fellow passengers, “Ah! You work with elephants do you? How interesting! So do I. My name is Iain Douglas- Hamilton and this is my daughter Saba”. I was tongue-tied to say the least. Here was my hero, the man who flew his plane into a rose bed to woo his girlfriend and had survived a terrifying crash (he was to survive two more after) one who roamed bare-chested and bare-footed amongst herds of elephants named after Greek gods and mythological figures which he sort of resembled himself. And next to him a tall, lovely blonde who he had just told me was his daughter. I had seen a classic photo of him holding his baby to a visiting herd of elephants, much as he would have to visiting clan in a Scottish village where he could have been raising his family if he had not made the decision to move to Africa. The CITES meet which was to follow for the next two weeks was a fiery one which centred around the killing of elephants and a possible opening of the ivory trade. Political rhetoric was at its most vitriolic, emotions ran like a gurgling mountain stream, untamed and unabashed and conversations varied from hushed corridor negotiations to loudly expressed opinions in a dozen languages. In the midst of this chaos lounged Iain, quietly espousing good science and fighting for the creatures he loved in the most dignified and sensible manner.

That momentous meet was to lead to a friendship that was forged in Harare and cemented in the six months I spent in Kenya with the KWS in the late 90s. The most remarkable part of that assignment of mine was to census elephants in Lake Turkana and Samburu with Iain. He was the leader and the pilot of his famed plane. I sat in the co-pilots seat not ever having sat behind even the wheels of a car. And Patrick Omondi and others were in the back spotting and counting out loud. My calibre as a flying companion got a thumbs-up from Saba who commented that I was one of the few young men who had gone up with her dad and not needed to use a paper bag before landing. Indeed. he would spot an elephant while tail edging a cloud and then to identify it would zoom in on it with an angular approach fast and furious enough to turn your innards into the mouth and mix your kidneys up if he decided to have a second go. I learnt more from him than anyone else in those early elephant days whether up in the air, or poring over elephant molars at his tent in Samburu. He was by my side when I launched by book on the Asian elephant, gave me sane advice when I started chairing the IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group and hosted my family at his Naivasha home when the kids were small.

I last saw Iain late last year when I visited him after hearing about his calamitous accident with a swarm of honey bees that had stung him causing him to go into anaphylactic shock. Saba and Dudu his daughters did not think he would recognise me. He was lying with that fierce and loving matriarch of the Douglas-Hamilton clan Oria still by his side when I took his hand and told him that the elephants of Mudumalai were still waiting for him to visit again. He smiled weakly and I thought I saw his eyes sparkle. It could have been my imagination or the word elephant may have wakened his weakened mind. His last chapter in life was long and troubled but he fought on surviving for many more months than his doctors thought he had. The tenacity and will he displayed all his life to stop elephant poaching and to drive the science that could lead to their well-being was still keeping him going. And when that flame burnt out, I heard in my inner ear the trumpets from his kindred clan, celebrating a life well lived and a legacy that the next generation of conservationist will have to rise up to emulate. Rest in peace my friend.

Vivek Menon
Chair IUCN SSC
Founder & ED, Wildlife Trust of India