One-hundred strong, the herd slowly makes its way through the shifting sands, following the promise of ephemeral desert rains. This is the remarkable, precarious, and untold story of a lost herd of elephants that live near the fabled city of Timbuktu. How the elephants survive in this seemingly barren, desolate landscape is a mystery. It is one however that Anne Orlando, a biologist from the University of California, hopes to unravel. For the first time she will track the elephants to uncharted lands and reveal the relationship they have with Tuareg nomads - a relationship which can be both respectful, and bloody. The lost elephants of Timbuktu are completely isolated from other African elephants - they were cut off from each other as the Sahara turned to desert centuries ago. They have survived in this unlikely setting by having a mental map of scattered temporary lakes and marshes. This is the Sahel in the West African state of Mali - one of the most arid places on earth and becoming more so. As drought has intensified over time, the elephants’ wanderings between these vital watering holes have stretched into a remarkable yearly migration of seven hundred miles. The Sahel is changing fast - the climate is becoming drier and many Tuareg people are abandoning their herds and establishing sedentary homes around the traditional waterholes of the elephants. This, unfortunately, can only lead to conflict. THE LOST ELEPHANTS OF TIMBUKTU will be an unforgettable adventure into a lost world.