So it is not uncommon to find elephants devouring soil and licking rocks high in sodium content.
Mount Elgon is believed to be the oldest extinct volcano in East Africa.
The rise is more gradual, and as the land rises the vegetation changes and so does the climate.
The forest becomes thicker and air becomes chilled.
The elephants have a voracious appetite for salt.
Its unlikely the animals know they need salt in their diet.
The worst happened during the 1980s when poachers discovered this trick.
They hid near the entrance to the caves and ambushed the elephants as they approached.
From more than 1,200, the population of Mount Elgon’s elephants fell to under one hundred.
Poaching radically altered the behavior of the elephantsthey became more secretive and started avoiding the better-known caves.
The situationhas improvedsince the last two decades, but the future is anything but bright.
Tusk marks on the wall of the caves.
