The Elephant Whisperer

What's better than a book about a conservationist in Africa? A book about him adopting a rogue elephant herd, of course!

Lawrence Anthony devoted his life to animal conservation, protecting the world's endangered species. Then he was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. His common sense told him to refuse, but he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them.

In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

The Elephant Whisperer is a heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad memoir of Anthony's experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures. Set against the background of life on an African game reserve, with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, Anthony's unrelenting efforts at animal protection and his remarkable connection with nature will inspire animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere. 

Source: The Elephant Whisperer on Amazon.

Giraffe Centre

The Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya was started to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe and to help breed it in captivity. The program has been very successful.

It is a wonderful place to interact with giraffes from a raised platform. Not only do you get to observe them at very close quarters but you are also allowed to feed the giraffes little treats made from molasses by hand! They seem to love them enough to play a game of tennis-watch for them. See for yourself:

It's surreal being so close to so many of these tall beauties. I learned that they are intelligent creatures, they actually respond to their names!

Most intriguing however, was the fact that their saliva is so antiseptic that their mouths are perpetually clean. In fact, they eat leaves from the thorny acacia since the thorn wounds heal rapidly owing to the antispectic nature of the saliva!

Here are some pictures from our trip there. You will also see some happy warthogs who enjoy the treats that the giraffes drop.

Giraffe Centre

Dave Sheldrick

Official Photos from Dave Sheldrick Postcards and Newsletter

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is an orphanage for Baby Elephants. It was started by Daphne Sheldrick to honour the memory of her husband David, who was a great naturalist. The couple served as the wardens of the Tsavo National Park in Kenya.

Baby elephants are orphaned for various reasons - some mothers die of natural causes, poachers are rampant and mothers are brutally killed for ivory while innocent babies look on, some mothers die when herds get caught in the middle of human conflict. However, it should be noted that most elephants are orphaned due to humans and their activities. Each year 19,000 African elephants are killed.

Once found, the baby elephants are brought to DSWT and hand-reared by a group of dedicated staff members using a special formula of milk whice Daphne took years to develop and perfect. After about three years of TLC, the elephants are taken back into the wild and rehabilitated with a herd. As they are young, they are easily accepted by the mother of the herd and the young ones learn to follow the rules of the herd. A noble initiative that is being well carried out. Another place of hope in an ugly world.
I was fortunate to visit the shelter and say hello to some of the sweet elephant babies there. The shelter also cares for rhinos, one of them completely blind, but at peace.

• Recent NPR Article on getting raincoats for these Baby Elephants.


• Read also about BBC's http://www.elephantdiaries.org/


• Official Website.


• My Photographs:
  
  
  
  
  

  Dave Sheldrick

Babies on the Brink

This set of BBC pictures shows babies of endangered species being carefully hand-reared in specialist facilities around the world.

The Coquerel's Sifaka, like all lemurs, is endemic to Madagascar. Madagascar is home to more than 250,000 (5% of the world's plant and animal) species of which 80% are found nowhere else on the globe (including six baobab species).

The Barbary Lion, originally from Morocco, is a Lion sub-species that became extinct in the wild in the 1940s.

The Aye-Aye is also a lemur, the world's largest nocturnal primate, native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker.

The final image is an endearing picture of a baby elephant from Kenya's Dave Sheldrick Shelter.

Africa’s Lost Eden

The Gorongosa National Park is located in Mozambique, at the southern end of the Great East African Rift Valley. I learned about it first, from a National Geographic Documentary titled "Africa's Lost Eden". Trailer here.
The film explains how this wondrous park, once abundant with wildlife (and even known as ‘the place where Noah left his Ark’), saw almost all its wildlife completely wiped out due to the long civil conflict in Mozambique. A very large and courageous restoration project is now underway at Gorongosa; led by The Carr Foundation, a U.S. not-for-profit organization, and the Government of Mozambique. An attempt to relocate animals from national parks in other parts of Africa, with a hope that they will , help re-populate Gorongosa and someday bring it back to its former glory.

Official Website. Historic Photo Gallery.

Unbowed

While I was in Kenya, I read Dr. Wangari Maathai's book, Unbowed. The book is a memoir, the story of her extraordinary life.

Inspired by her interactions with nature as a child, Dr. Maathai went on to become a leading environmentalist. She pioneered the Green Belt Movement, owing to which much of Kenya's forests have been restored, and kept it alive in the face of adversity. Protecting the ecosystem in this manner helped many rural communities fight poverty and become self sufficient. She fought long and hard for many noble causes including multi-party democracy in Kenya and saving the city's central green space, Uhuru (freedom) park. She helped bring out multiple instances of corrpution and the Government turned against her and all her initiatives. Yet, she remained committed to her goals and helped Kenya move forward in many ways, despite her personal struggles and setbacks.

I was inspired to read about her life and the results she brought about from her determination and sheer courage. It was thrilling just to walk around in Uhuru Park, knowing how much had gone into saving it. Through most of the book, I felt as if Dr. Maathai was sitting with me and telling me her heart-warming story. A beautiful read and a great way to learn about Kenya and the story of a phenomenal woman.

From Wikipedia: Wangari Muta Maathai (born April 1, 1940 in Ihithe village, Tetu division, Nyeri District of Kenya) is a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005.

The Information Blanket

The Information Blanket is a simple and novel idea to education parents of newborns in Uganda, where the infant mortality rate is disturbingly high.

Read more about Shanti Uganda and watch what they do for mothers and girls here.

Madécasse

Malagasy chocolate maker Madécasse is transforming the chocolate business and improving communities in Madagascar. The historical practices of the global chocolate industry have negatively impacted developing countries. Currently, 85% of the world’s cocoa is grown in Africa, but less than 1% of the chocolate is made there. Madécasse is shifting chocolate production to the source in order to bridge the gap between poverty and potential in Madagascar.

Learn more about the story and watch the cool 2 min video at the bottom of the homepage.

Elephants Without Borders

That's right! Elephants sans frontières!

Picture from EWB website

I really enjoyed this BBC video about elephants thriving in Botswana. I learned about two interesting things - this wonderful organization EWB, and the existence of political refugee elephants!

EWB is gathering a lot of information and learning more and more about these majestic creatures. See this Animal Planet video that suggests that elephants have very complex intellectual processes. Founder Dr.Mike Chase has a doctorate in Elephant Ecology and loves these giants with a passion.

Charity: Water

A wonderful idea to donate your birthday and builds wells to provide clean drinking water to entire villages in Africa (and around the world). Watch the video here. Check out the Website.

46664

If you ever wondered what 46664 meant, here's an excerpt from the Wiki Page:

Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1964, and was the 466th prisoner to arrive that year. The prison administration's scheme of numbering prisoners was to follow the sequence number of the prisoner (466 in his case), with the last two digits of the year (64). The number was imposed on him by the prison for over 25 years, until his release in 1990. "Prisoner 46664" continues to be used, as a reverential title for him, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation uses 46664.com as its website address. Read more about the concerts.

Rowling's Speech

J.K. Rowling talks about her experience of working at Amnesty International's African Research Department. Watch from 12:00 minutes onwards.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.