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Delia and Mark observe Kalahari wildlife from the top of their truck.
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Delia and Mark continue their study of carnivores by radio collaring lions in North Luangwa.
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In 1974, with nothing more than backpacks, $6,000 of their own money, and one-way air tickets, they headed off into the Kalahari Desert where they spent the next seven years studying the elusive brown hyena and black-maned lions. They made landmark discoveries about these species and helped conserve the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. (See The Kalahari Years)
In 1985, Delia and Mark wanted to continue their study of carnivores in the remote North Luangwa National Park of Zambia, an almost inaccessible wilderness. They soon found that gangs of commercial poachers were quickly sterilizing the park, killing as many as 1,000 elephants each year for their ivory. For the next 11 years, Delia and Mark developed the North Luangwa Conservation Project, which saved the park for the benefit of the wildlife and the people living near it.
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Lured by the Marula fruit, 'Survivor' was the first elephant to visit Delia and Mark's research camp in North Luangwa.
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In 1997, Delia and Mark returned to the United States to write up the elephant research data gathered during their 11 years working in North Luangwa. NLCP wildlife research and anti-poaching are now funded and administered solely by the Frankfurt Zoological Society of Germany. The Owens Foundation is providing grants to the two Zambian men who directed Community Development for Delia and Mark. These grants will establish small businesses to benefit the local people living in the remote villages surrounding North Luangwa and, ultimately, the wildlife in the National Park.
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Mark Owens leading a packhorse in
the Selkirk Mountains.
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While Mark and Delia analyze their elephant data, they also supported the Selkirk Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Recovery Project in the northwestern United States. One of the last five remnant populations of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states lives in the Selkirk and Purcell Mountains.