Namibia's elephant population has been the subject of some debate recently, with some claiming that there are far fewer of these pachyderms in the country than official statistics suggest. While some objections to the official numbers constituted flat-out science denial, others suggested that the Namibian counts were overestimates due to the trans-boundary nature of the country’s largest elephant sub-population. This valid concern was put to bed with the recent publication of a synchronised regional elephant survey that accounted for elephant border crossings. Most of Namibia's elephants occur in the wetter northeastern part of the country including the narrow Zambezi Region (former Caprivi Strip) that fits snugly between Angola, Botswana and Zambia, and just touches Zimbabwe on its eastern tip. This strip of land is a key ecological link among these countries that, along with Namibia, contribute to the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA). For the first time in history, six trans-boundary counting blocks (known as strata) were established between Namibia and Botswana close to their shared rivers (see Map). Since the count was done in the late dry season when elephant movements are limited by water availability, any major trans-boundary movements were expected close to the rivers. While the trans-boundary strata were counted as though they were in the same country, the data were separated according to country during analysis. This strategy was complemented by conducting all counts in adjacent strata within as short a timespan as possible, thus limiting counting errors due to elephants moving between one stratum and another.