March 2010 — Bangkok and the ivory market
Outside reported on Trip Jennings working in Bangkok on the Elephant Ivory Project. The story followed an early phase focused on the consumer end of the ivory trade, including visits to markets and hotel shops where carved ivory could be found for sale.
December 2010 — Portland fundraiser and DRC plans
National Geographic reported on Go Wild: A Night of Fashion + Celebration to Save Elephants, a Portland event supporting the project. The same article described Jennings and Andy Maser preparing a forensic-biology expedition to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help strengthen an elephant DNA reference map.
11 March 2011 — departure announced
National Geographic reported that the Elephant Ivory Project was moving into its Congo field phase after roughly two years of development. Jennings and Maser were preparing to fly to Kinshasa carrying collection vials and aiming to obtain samples from under-represented elephant populations.
22 March 2011 — Kinshasa and the TL2 decision
After arriving in Kinshasa, the team met Terese Hart and began planning access to the TL2 landscape. The region was scientifically important because of gaps in the DNA reference map, but field access was complicated by security and poaching pressures.
29 March 2011 — Kisangani to Kindu
The expedition moved deeper into the DRC. Jennings, Maser and John Hart planned to travel from Kindu toward Obenge using motorbikes and motorised pirogues, while another team approached from the north.
12 April 2011 — first samples from local teams
National Geographic reported that Jennings and Maser had spent days searching without finding usable elephant dung. A second field team, however, returned with the project’s first five samples, confirming that elephants were still using parts of the landscape.
26 April 2011 — viable samples collected
Later in the expedition, Jennings and Maser reported finding fresh elephant tracks and dung themselves. During a roughly 75-kilometre trek, their group collected six viable samples, while other teams had obtained additional samples elsewhere in TL2.
Late April 2011 — the field phase winds down
The team began the return journey with sample transport and permits still part of the logistical challenge. The public National Geographic series ends with the expedition preparing to leave the DRC.
Today — preserving the record
ElephantIvoryProject.org now preserves the project’s surviving public history and connects it with current work on elephant DNA, ivory trafficking, behaviour and conservation.
Continue to the Expedition Journal, the People and Collaborators page or the Press and Coverage archive.