Elephant societies are led by matriarchs — older females whose memory of water sources, safe routes and danger keeps the family alive across generations. This story follows one such matriarch on Mpala and the family she leads.

Researchers at Mpala have catalogued more than 1,500 individual elephants, tracking the movements and family bonds that shape elephant life in Laikipia. Losing a matriarch is more than the loss of one animal — it is the loss of decades of accumulated wisdom that the herd depends on.