Copyright Nick Brandt

Next week I’m heading to the Chyulu Hills, where the anti-poaching organisation Big Life is based, to spend some time with Richard Bonham and the guys fighting the war against elephant poachers.  Co-founded in 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt and conservationist Richard Bonham, the Big Life Foundation employs 280 rangers across 2 million acres of African wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo region of Kenya.  I’m on a special mission this time, but it’s all a bit hush-hush so further details will come next month…  I can say that it’s linked to the connection between Africa and Asia in relation to the ivory trade and also to my upcoming book, “Planet Elephant”, due for release in Australia in August.

Copyright Nick Brandt

Why Kenya?  Well, their elephants are being hit really hard by poachers.  The latest update by the IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group on the status of African elephants shows disturbing trends.  Southern Africa still holds most of Africa’s elephant population (56%), but while populations in Central Africa have been most at risk, the report shows that now Eastern and Southern African populations are facing an increasing threat from poaching for their ivory.

Another report launched at CITES points out that large scale seizures of illegal ivory from Africa to Asia have more than doubled since 2009 and global ivory trade is now three times larger than it was in 1998.  The worldwide ivory ban that came into effect in 1989 is no longer enough to stop the killing of Africa’s elephants as demand for ivory has escalated massively across Asia, especially in China but also Thailand, the latter being the world’s most unregulated ivory market.  The killing won’t stop until the demand stops, but governments in demand countries can also be doing a lot more to clamp down on the trade.

Copyright Nick Brandt

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s promising announcement at CITES last month that she would ensure that the legislation loopholes that allow illegal ivory from Africa to be sold freely in Thailand (read more in my blog about my trip to Bangkok on this) hasn’t appeared to result in any action… yet.  No timeline was given as to when the Thai government would start the process of tightening the legislation and enforcing it, so it really isn’t time for elephant-lovers to pop the champagne yet.  Let’s hope we see some positive signs on this front soon, as Thai people love elephants too, and elephants are key to the country’s national heritage and spirituality.

While in Kenya I’ll also be checking out Daphne Sheldrick’s famous elephant and rhino orphanage (the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust), somewhere I have always wanted to visit.  I’m really looking forward to some quality time with elephants.

Dame Daphne Sheldrick with an orphaned elephant

If you’ve been to Kenya and you’ve got any tips for me, leave a comment below as I’d love to hear from you!

Elephant and calf in Khaudum NP, Namibia (T. Matson)

If you’re my facebook friend, there’s a very good chance you’re sick to death about me rambling on about elephants and ivory and asking you to sign yet another petition around CITES, the meeting of countries this week in Bangkok, Thailand.  If you’re not, then this post is for you.  

CITES – officially the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna – happens every few years.  This one is a critical one for elephants (perhaps they all are actually – elephants always seem to be high on the wildlife trade agenda) and it’s being held in Bangkok, Thailand, a country that has been feeling the heat from the media on ivory trade in the last few weeks.  Don’t worry – no one’s talking about lifting the worldwide ban that was put into effect in 1989 following the devastating poaching of the 1980s, but conservationists are concerned about countries that are making no effort at all to stop the illegal trade in ivory.

A WWF report identified Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the key countries that need to step up their efforts to stop what is now estimated to be a staggering 30,000 African elephants being killed every year.  Remember – there are only half a million African elephants left.  At this rate, you do the maths to work out how long they  have left….  Long time elephant conservationists like Joyce Poole say they have a sense of de ja vu around the poaching they’re seeing in Africa again now.  It’s like history’s repeating itself all over again.  Dame Daphne Sheldrick recently said on an excellent episode of Foreign Correspondent that elephants in Africa could be all gone in twenty years.

Seizure of ivory tusks from Kenya in Thailand (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP from The Independent)

When are we humans going to give elephants a break?  First it was us colonials, the Europeans who killed as many elephants as we could for their ivory, using it from everything from billiard balls to piano keys.  Then it was the Japanese for their name seals.  Now it’s primarily China creating the demand, both because of the huge population and the greater wealth there now, as well as the much larger resident population living in Africa, but other Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore are also implicated.

Why is Thailand on WWF’s black list, a country known for its love for elephants?  Well it has the largest unregulated ivory market in the world, which I saw for myself when I visited Bangkok’s tourist markets with TRAFFIC’s Bill Schaedla and Tom Milliken a couple of months ago.  Ivory was for sale out in the open in huge amounts, being sold as jewellery, amulets and art.  Apparently now there’s none in sight (funny how it all mysteriously disappeared just before CITES met in Bangkok – officials couldn’t find any…).

Ivory for sale in Bangkok’s Chatuchuk markets a few months ago (T. Matson)

While China has a legal ivory market (from the one off sales of CITES-approved African stockpiles), it has made much more of an effort to monitor and regulate the illegal trade than Thailand has.  It still has a long way to go as critics believe the legal sales have simply led to a greater illegal trade (read a recent article from the New York Times on this here).  A major part of Thailand’s problem is that its legislation doesn’t protect African elephants, only its own and that of domestic elephants.  There is a DNA test to differentiate the two species’ ivory, but in spite of this, much of the ivory on the streets for sale is from Africa.

Yesterday at the opening of CITES, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced that her government “will work towards amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end to ivory trade and to be in line with international norms. This will help protect all forms of elephants including Thailand’s wild and domestic elephants and those from Africa.”  So the petitions you all signed did help (WWF’s and AVAAZ’s combined were in the realm of 1.3 million signatures apparently), as no doubt did the influence of Leonardo Di Caprio in the lead up, asking the PM to ban the trade in Thailand.

Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra committed to amending Thailand’s laws to stop the illegal trade in ivory

This is a very good step in the right direction by Thailand’s government, although there is no timeline attached to her statement yet, so any optimism needs to be couched in caution.  There is still a huge amount to be done to enforce any improved laws that go into place, and today the crucial issue of consumer demand is still very much at the forefront of my mind.  Why are people still buying ivory?  How can we make it ‘uncool’ to wear or buy this stuff?  Consumers have a huge role to play in reducing demand, so keep spreading the word and let everyone know that ivory is just not cool.

Above all, it’s too easy to criticise Asia in general for the poaching we are seeing in Africa, but its important to hear the other side of the story.  Half a million Aussies visit Thailand every year, so make sure you’re not contributing to demand by buying jewellery made of it yourself, as customs in Australia do have records of this happening more often than you would think.  One thing I have learned from living in Asia this year is that we’d all do well to listen a little more to what our friends in this part of the world are saying, and to understand the reasons behind why products like ivory and rhino horn are so heavily in demand.

Hats off to you PM Shinawatra for stepping up to the table – let’s hope this is just the beginning of Thailand’s commitment to ending the bloody war against elephants.

Musth bull, Minneriya National Park

Sri Lanka has about 6000 elephants, which is a tenth of the Asian elephant population and the largest country population after India.  But as you might expect after a thirty year war, Sri Lanka is now on a different kind of war path, the kind that involves a whole lot of rapid development.  They sit in a great position in that the development could be sustainable and in line with their strong Buddhist principles that say that all living things should be protected.  Unfortunately there are worrying signs that this is not happening, that human-elephant conflict is on the rise as current land use planning does not take into account ancient elephant migration paths.

Breeding herd, Hurulu Biosphere Reserve, Sri Lanka

I was amazed at the natural beauty of Sri Lanka and the warmth of the people.  Andy described it as ‘India-Lite’.  Solo played with local kids in rusted, metal playgrounds with chipped paint that looked like they hadn’t changed in thirty years – and he had a ball.  Although it was the open jeep rides looking for elephants in Hurulu Biosphere Reserve (near Habarana) and Minneriya National Park (the famous park that has ‘the gathering’ of hundreds of elephants in the dry season) that the whole family really loved.

Andy, Solo and I in Hurulu Biosphere Reserve

December wasn’t the best time to visit Sri Lanka due to all the rain, but we did see many more elephants than we expected to, and not only in the forests.  Check out my video below of two Sri Lankan wild bulls wandering down the street outside a town near Minneriya National Park.  We were told they were headed for a rubbish tip at the back of a military compound.  I loved the way the cars and trucks simply moved around them as if they were simply a slow moving vehicle.

Elephants in Sri Lanka are part of the national upholstery, symbols of strength and power, featuring heavily in ancient art at temples like the famous Temple of the Tooth in Kandy (pictured below).

Temple of the Tooth, Kandy

Last year, customs in Sri Lanka seized over 300 African tusks (read story here).  Worryingly, this was offered by the government to Buddhist temples, in what is clearly a contradiction in ideology since these contraband tusks symbolise the illegal killing of 150 African elephants, not at all in line with Buddhist beliefs.  I have recently been informed that these tusks have now been given to a company and may end up on the black market fuelling the demand for illegal ivory.  With tens of thousands of elephants being poached in Africa annually, particularly in the last few years since demand in China has soared, this is a real worry.  You can help remind the Sri Lankan government how important it is to keep illegal ivory off the streets by supporting this AVAAZ petition for a ceremonial burning.  I’ve signed and they only need another 100 signatures to reach their target.

More from me soon on the upcoming CITES meeting in Bangkok and my recent trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, investigating the illegal rhino horn trade with TRAFFIC, the worldwide wildlife trade organisation….

After a hard day of elephant watching, there’s only one answer for a three year old boy… Solo passed out in the jeep.

Check out my short video here (1 minute):

The Kinabatangan River in eastern Sabah is on the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo.  Getting there is half the adventure.  The small town of Sandakan is a 40 minute flight from Kota Kinabalu, after a 2 and a half hour flight from our new home in Singapore. It takes a couple of hours of driving on decent tar roads from there to reach the village of Sukau, and from there it was another 10 minutes in a small speed boat to our lodge on the river.

Andy, Solo & I on the Kalimantan River, Sabah

We had come all this way to assuage my long held desire to see a wild pygmy elephant before they go extinct.  There are only a few thousand of this subspecies of the Asian elephant left in the world and they live in a world of human elephant conflict.  Like their friends the orang utans that also live here, most of the habitat of pygmy elephants has been destroyed for palm plantations, to produce an oil that is in pretty much everything we buy at the supermarket, from packets of chips and vegetable oil to chocolates and shampoo.

Orang utan, Sabah

You’ve got to be a very savvy shopper to avoid palm oil as it’s usually not obvious.   For a good source of information on how to avoid buying products with palm oil in them check out this website.

Along the drive we realised that Sabah has significantly more bull dozers and diggers than it does pygmy elephants – by a long way.  The monocultures of palm trees are simply everywhere in this country.  Sadly, I realised soon after arriving that there was no chance of seeing a Sumatran rhino in the wild.  There is a very small population in the Danum Valley, not far from the Kinabatangan River where we were based, but the rhinos are so few and far between there that they can’t even find each other to mate.

Palm plantation, Sabah

In our hunt for the elusive pygmy elephants, we were fortunate to see wild orang utans, which was a real thrill, and the area’s famous proboscis monkeys, with their magnificent, huge noses.  We narrowly missed running into a deadly Wagler’s pit viper in our boat one morning, which a herpetologist friend in Singapore recently told me was a good thing because in his words, “The best case scenario with a bite from a Wagler’s is you’ll lose an appendage”, before going on to explain how the venom basically eats away at your flesh within an hour of being bitten.  Nice.  That was the best case scenario.

Wagler’s pit viper

But for three days, despite the best efforts of our wonderful local guide, Sulaiman Ismael, the pygmy elephants proved elusive.  It wasn’t until the very last day that Sulaiman and I found a bull on foot in the rainforest.  Unfortunately he wasn’t as pleased to see me as I was to see him, and within minutes of finding him I was running for my life as he charged from ten metres away.  Sulaiman, to his enormous credit, stood his ground and clapped and shouted to slow the charge, before chasing after me.  It was not my proudest moment!  If you would like to hear what a charging pygmy elephant sounds like, listen to this (I didn’t have time to turn off my video camera so this is the actual moment he charged).

Later that afternoon, with Andy and Solo on board the boat, we finally found what we had been looking for… a huge breeding herd of pygmy elephants!

The most striking thing about these elephants is that they are a lot smaller than the African species, and quite a bit smaller than the Asian elephants you see in other parts of Asia.  Male pygmy elephants rarely exceed 2.5 metres in height, compared to 4 metres in African elephant bulls.  They have a heart shaped head and ears that are lower on their heads.  If Africa’s elephants are the chocolate mud cake, then Borneo’s pygmy elephants are the chocolate eclairs – petite and pretty (I like to think in metaphors that involve chocolate, if you haven’t noticed).  They are well worth a look, and if you can stand the high humidity and heat, (which has stopped me complaining about Singapore’s as it was just sooo much more extreme), this is a trip well worth the effort.  Great memories for us and our little boy that we will treasure forever.

Pygmy elephant

Bulls jostle in the river

Precious memories

Female white rhino, Save Valley Conservancy

A couple of months ago while in the Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe I was fortunate to spend some time with the conservancy’s new anti-poaching team, led by husband and wife team, Bryce and Lara Clemence, who started on the job in April.  I have to admit, I was curious to know about how they planned to get on top of the rhino poaching in this part of the world.  

Twelve rhinos were poached in the Save Valley Conservancy in the first three months of this year.  Then soon after I was there in June, a white rhino female was poached, and in a further tragedy, lions killed her calf.  The story of Maduma, the de-horned white rhino bull who had been shot multiple times before what was left of his horns were hacked off, later found staggering around the bush concussed but somehow still alive, was still fresh in my mind from the year before.   Maduma lived for a couple of weeks, but due to the severity of his wounds he eventually had to be euthanised.

Maduma, the rhino tragically wounded by poachers in SVC last year, left for dead

With rhino horn being worth twice the price of gold in Asia, and African game scouts risking their lives against hardened, well armed criminal syndicates on a daily basis, it’s a huge challenge to get on top of this problem.  Talking to the anti-poaching teams on the ground in the conservancy really brought home what they’re up against.  This is a battle that can’t be fought in Africa alone, but needs attacking all along the trade chain to Vietnam where the horns end up.

Gonas, one of the front men of the anti-poaching team in SVC

In September, when I walked up to a wild black rhino with Bryce’s game scouts in the conservancy, I was reminded of just how vulnerable this species is.  With such poor vision, it had been too easy to sneak up to this young bull to about 30m away.  He let us follow him in the fading daylight as he fed on sickle bush and acacias, seemingly oblivious (this is him in the video below).  If we had been poachers, he’d have been a goner.

It made me wonder if experiences like this would soon become a thing of the past.  There are less than 5000 black rhinos left in Africa and the faster they disappear, the more their horns are worth.  Although studies have shown that dehorned rhinos are less likely to be poached (more on this here if you’re interested) it certainly doesn’t guarantee their protection as the stub still has value on the black market.

So I couldn’t have been more delighted to hear from Lara and Bryce this week that their team was successful in apprehending not only one of the most notorious rhino poachers, a Zambian national who ran a high level poaching syndicate, but also two other poachers who were involved.  This is a huge win for the rhinos and for the people on the ground fighting for them.

Bryce and Lara Clemence

The group of five men in total had shot and wounded a dehorned bull, which now thankfully seems to be okay.  The information that Bryce’s team will get from the poachers is invaluable and will help apprehend others.

It’s dedicated game scouts like these who stand between the rhinos and their killers

One thing that is encouraging is that the Clemences’ anti-poaching operation appears to be making a difference in the Save Valley Conservancy, both in reducing the amount of rhinos poached and in terms of apprehending poachers. That is very good news.

The funds that were raised with your help earlier this year at the Imagine Africa dinners in Sydney were used directly to support their work and that of the conservancy, which I think made it all worthwhile.

To all those on the ground fighting to keep Zimbabwe’s last rhinos alive, I salute you, and keep up the good work Save Valley Conservancy – we’re right behind you.

You can support the Save Valley Conservancy’s fight against poaching by donating directly to them here or by donating to the SAVE Foundation in Western Australia here.

The author walking up to a black rhino in Zimbabwe

Teachers Marjorie & Fungai guiding Grade 6/7 students Lisa and Hazel

The week before last, I got a special dose of African happiness when I watched the faces of the kids at Humani Primary School and their wonderful teachers light up as they used their now operational laptop computers.  From now on, following the installation of a complete solar charging system, they’ll be able to charge all 12 laptops daily and use them every afternoon in extra-curricular computer classes for the Grade 6s and 7s.

A lot of people made this happen.  First of all, this all started last year when Roger Whittall, the owner of Humani Ranch in the Save Valley Conservancy, asked if I could put a call out to my friends and readers for laptops.  The response to that blog was astounding – laptops came flowing in!

Dish teaching Fungai in June (on the laptop donated by Greg Bourne)

The second hand laptops now being used at the school were donated by several people across Australia, but the majority by John Vickers at Technology One in Brisbane.  Shirley Michael, an IT expert and volunteer, then went over to Humani earlier this year to do a feasibility analysis of the situation and to arrange the appropriate programs and installation.

So we had the laptops and the expertise…  The next challenge was to get them to Zimbabwe – not as easy as you would think!  If we posted them the school would have to pay more than they were worth in taxes at the other end.  Thankfully, the willing expeditioners on Animal Works – Barefoot in Africa expedition in June made it possible to get the remaining laptops there, by carrying one (or two!) in their luggage and taking them there in person.  IT gurus on that trip (Sid, Dish & Chantal) spent some time with the teachers Fungai and Marjorie while there guiding them through the basics, so they could pass the knowledge onto the kids.

Lucky setting up the chargers

But we weren’t there yet.  The next challenge was the lack of electricity at the school.  It wasn’t feasible for the teachers to carry all the laptops to the Humani Safaris’ office every day for charging, and they couldn’t be connected to the mains electricity as there was no budget to pay for the power.   We felt that solar was the best option for them – both environmentally sustainable and without monthly bills.

With the help of Sarah Whittall, many quotes were sought after until a company was finally sourced who would do the job at the best price.  Thanks very much to Neil Bradshaw for providing the custom made solar system for us on a budget.  The expedition itself had raised enough funds to pay for almost all of the solar charging equipment, and Animal Works agreed to pay for the difference (thanks Meli Souter!).   The Whittall family kindly arranged for the system to be transported to Humani School, an almost 6 hour drive from the capital, Harare, the week before last with me.  Lucky, one of Roger’s top mechanics, set to work building a frame for the panels to stop them being stolen (solar panels are highly sought after in rural areas).

Then disaster struck.  During the welding of the panels, a spark flew into one of the glass panels, shattering it internally.  Africa!!  I couldn’t believe it, after all that had gone into getting this far and Lucky’s devastated face said it all.  He wasn’t just doing this because it was his job; his daughter Lisa attended the school and would be using the computers too.  Several men gathered around and it was decided that we should at least test it to see if it still worked… Amazingly it did!   By the end of the day, both panels were on the roof of the school, bolted down to stop thieves.

The next morning, I think the pictures here say it all.  Fungai, who will be the teacher responsible for the computer training program, Lucky and I set up all the computers in the office, which has now become the main charging room and tested out the system.  It worked without a glitch and soon they were up and running, with lots of happy kids learning programs like Word, Excel and Paint.

So now they have the tools, and Fungai is looking into getting internet and email set up so that these kids can connect with the outside world for the first time.  The kids understand that this whole project was possible because of people in Australia and beyond who want them to conserve their natural heritage.  Hopefully they will grow up understanding the value of ecotourism and the need to stop wildlife poaching in the conservancy.

Happy faces

One thing Fungai did specifically ask for was DVDs on nature and wildlife, to show the kids the value of animals and get them even more interested.  If you have old nature documentaries that you never watch and would like to donate, please drop me a line here and I’ll make a plan to get them to the school.

Thanks to everyone who has helped the school get up and running with its computer program.  The principal told me he didn’t think any other rural schools in Zimbabwe had anything like this and he and the teachers were overwhelmed with gratefulness.  They asked me to send their heartfelt thanks to all of you who made this happen.  This is just a beginning, but you have to start somewhere, and hopefully, as Fungai takes things forward, there will be much more to come for these future leaders of Zimbabwe.

White rhino, Save Valley Conservancy

Africa’s elephants and rhinos are now being poached at an unprecedented rate for what is literally just tooth and nail (ivory is dentine, rhino horn is glorified finger nails).  Almost two rhinos are poached a day in South Africa according to one statistic I heard recently, with over 400 poached there last year.  There are less than 5000 black rhinos left, so it doesn’t take long to figure out how long it will take to reach extinction at that rate.  The success story of the African white rhino (brought back from the brink to now numbering around 18,000) may not be a success for much longer either at this rate.  The reason for the poaching is the demand for rhino horn in Asia, according to a report just out from TRAFFIC, particularly in Vietnam, where compliance and enforcement of CITES regulations is poor.  The penalties for rhino horn traders are just not severe enough to deter the traders, and there have been no recorded seizures of rhino horn in Vietnam since 2008.

Dr Jo Shaw from TRAFFIC, the world’s wildlife trade monitoring network, puts it like this, “With the surging demand from Asia, people willing to pay high prices to get their hands on rhino horn, and little fear of capture by those smuggling horn, it was perhaps inevitable that this ‘commodity’ would catch the attention of the hardened criminal fraternity, creating a ‘perfect storm’ for rhino poaching and horn trade.”

Elephants, Namibia

According to WWF’s report, when it comes to elephants, the countries who really need to step up to curb illegal trade in ivory and stop the poaching are Thailand and China, which are the biggest consumer countries of ivory.  It’s unthinkable, but tourists are still buying ivory in Thai markets all over the country.  Whatever you do, if you’re on holiday in Thailand, don’t keep the demand for ivory going buy buying jewellery or carvings that come from elephants.  Chances are what you’re buying is illegal, poached African elephant ivory from somewhere like central Africa where populations are experiencing localised extinctions.  Just recently in Cameroon’s  Bouba N’Djida National Park, more than 200 elephants were slaughtered for their ivory by heavily armed poachers, representing a huge chunk of the park’s remaining elephants (watch WWF video on this here).  In Thailand, the law doesn’t truly protect wild elephants because of a loophole in the legislation that allows ivory from domestic ivory to be sold on the streets.  In reality, it’s impossible to tell the difference between ivory from wild compared with domestic elephants, so much on the street is not from domestic elephants at all, but ivory from wild, poached elephants.

Sumatran rhinos copyright Yayasan Badak Indonesia

It all sounds a bit doom and gloom, doesn’t it?  Especially when you factor in that there are only 5 species of rhinos left in the world and they are all highly threatened (IUCN red list).  Two of the remaining species of rhinos that occur in south-east Asia, the Javan and Sumatran rhinos, only have a couple of hundred left, trying to survive in fragmented habitats under immense pressure in Indonesia.  A couple of years ago the last Javan rhino in Vietnam was poached for its horn, but it seemed like most of the world barely noticed.  Although, having said that, apparently the Indonesian President has noticed, declaring this year the Year of the Rhino and pledging to set up a task force to conserve their remaining rhinos (read more here).

In some parts of the world it’s not just habitat loss and poaching for their horn that threatens rhinos – it’s corrupt people.  For the last couple of weeks I’ve been watching the Save Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe very closely with increasing concern.  The funds raised from the two Imagine African dinners earlier this year through Animal Works went to Save Valley Conservancy to help stop the poaching of what is the second largest population of rhinos in Zimbabwe.  But as if the criminal gangs of poachers weren’t enough to deal with, now the conservancy faces another threat from a small group of greedy individuals who do not have the interests of conserving wildlife at heart (it’s in the media headlines this week – read more here).  The conservancy have informed me that they have now received reassurances that the problem is being dealt with by central government, so while the threat has not completely gone away, steps are being taken in the right direction.  Let’s hope that continues.

In the last few years, following many years of political instability and poaching, things have been steadily improving in Save Valley Conservancy, with several species showing signs of increases in their populations again.   Private conservancies like Save Valley are ‘the last stand’ for much of Zimbabwe’s wildlife where dedicated individuals have stuck together and worked tirelessly to conserve wild lands and endangered species.   Save Valley itself has the second highest population of black rhinos in the country and they’re doing everything they can to conserve them.  The funds raised by Australians from recent the dinners means a huge amount to them, not just in dollar terms but also in the knowledge that even on the side of the world people care deeply about Zimbabwe, her people and wildlife.

You can support anti-poaching in Zimbabwe’s conservancies by donating to the SAVE Foundation (a Perth based organisation, so donations are tax deductible).  Just click here or go to one of their upcoming Australian events (there are two coming up in September) to support this cause.  Contact the SAVE Foundation for more information.  TRAFFIC and WWF are two global organisations that are working to stop the illegal wildlife trade worldwide.  Click here to learn about WWF’s global wildlife trade campaign or donate to TRAFFIC (a small organisation doing great work on far too limited resources).

June started for me with a week in Zimbabwe in the Save Valley Conservancy, learning about what’s been going on behind the scenes with the poaching there.  More rhinos have been poached since I left there last month, including a white rhino mother, a devastating loss to the population.  The challenge to these committed people on the ground in Zimbabwe’s conservancies is that they are up against so much, because rhino horn is worth so much money ($65,000/kg) and the anti-poaching game scouts are paid so little in comparison.

Experts from organisations like TRAFFIC will tell you that the wildlife trade is worth literally billions of dollars.  The poaching of rhinos is done by ruthless gangs akin to a kind of mafia; these are not your average poachers killing animals for meat to feed poor families.  And it’s feeding a growing demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam, the horn being (falsely) purported to cure all sorts of ailments, from depression to arthritis, in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

How do you compete with that kind of demand, when rhino horn is worth $65,000/kilogram?  How can you get enough guys on the ground to watch all the rhinos all the time and how do you stop them being corrupted when so much money is on offer?  How on earth are we going to stop the black rhino going extinct in the next ten years when so many are being poached?  Will the white rhino be the next species added to the Critically Endangered list?  I left Zim feeling a bit overwhelmed by the poaching in the region, and also thinking it’s time to think more radically about how to solve this problem.

Komodo dragon, Rinca Island

After Zimbabwe, I took some time out with the family.  I spent three weeks traveling in the Indonesian archipelago with my husband Andy and our son, Solo.  Hanging out with turtles and Komodo dragons in Flores was a real highlight and an awakening for me around how much precious wildlife is to be found in the ‘back of beyond’ parts of Asia.

Being completely off email and facebook for a few weeks also gave me some quality thinking time, and while I didn’t solve all the problems of the world, it certainly cleared my head for some big decisions to be made.

A huge part of the fight for Africa’s wildlife has to be fought in Asia, because this is where much of the demand for things like ivory and rhino horn comes from, the real cause of the poaching.  Being based in Singapore for the next couple of years, I’ve decided to pursue conservation work for both African and Asian wildlife from here, which means handing over the running of Animal Works to the organisation’s co-founder, Nafisa Naomi and the committee, and ceasing my involvement from now on.

Worth protecting

It’s been a great experience for the first three years of the organisation and to see it grow.  We’ve achieved a lot in a short time, supporting great conservation projects in India and Africa.  I’ve loved meeting lots of new friends who share my passion for wildlife and Africa.  Thanks for your continuing support, and please keep in touch on facebook or by subscribing to my blog, where I’ll be posting all the updates on my conservation work and much more at http://www.tammiematson.com in future.

And hang in there for my next book, which will be released next year, which is all about those animals we all adore, elephants and rhinos, and what’s being done to protect them.

African wild dog at Humani

Okay, so first of all, within hours of getting off the plane at Humani in the Save Valley Conservancy and being given a superb welcome song and dance by the adorable children of Humani School, it so happened that our guides, Limon and Gareth, knew where there was an African wild dog den… and it was close by.  We decided to go take a look in the off chance that we might get to see one of Africa’s rarest predators – parking the vehicles at a non-intrusive distance as there would probably have been small pups in the den at this time of year.  Wow, were we in for a treat on day one.

In all my years in Africa I’ve never been able to just sit and watch African wild dogs relaxed at a den like I did that day.  There were several dogs there – one with a radio collar who is part of Rosemary Groom’s research & conservation project in the Save Valley Conservancy – while the rest were probably out hunting, and they largely ignored our presence.  African wild dogs are endangered and there are only between 3000 and 5000 left in the wild, which made this sighting all the more special.  The Save Valley Conservancy – and Humani especially – is a place where there is a vital population for the species’ survival.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many clicking and whirring of cameras at one animal sighting.  Most people on their first trip to Africa are desperate to tick off the Big Five – lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard – but Animal Works’ expeditioners on this first trip really seemed to appreciate just how special an African wild dog sighting was.

White rhino bull at Humani

Another highlight was getting up close and personal with one of Humani’s resident white rhino bulls on foot.  Most of you would know that the funds raised from Animal Works’ two Imagine Africa dinners earlier this year is going to support the anti-poaching efforts in Save Valley Conservancy, in particular against the rhino poachers.  So it was very special to be able to get up close on foot to a white rhino bull, who was so relaxed he actually lay down at one point!  Nice as it was to see that, it also brought home the reality of how easy it must be to kill these majestic creatures.  It’s the black rhino that is in real trouble in this part of the world due to the extreme poaching.  Black rhinos are critically endangered, with a population of only about 5000, but with the demand for rhino horn escalating in Asia, the white rhino may be in trouble soon too.

If you get a chance to read the late Lawrence Anthony’s latest book “The Last Rhino” (author of the best selling “The Elephant Whisperer’) you’ll get a great insight into just how tough the fight is on the ground to save Africa’s rhinos.   I certainly got the sense from talking to the anti-poaching and management teams in the conservancy that they have one hell of a battle on their hands and all the support that Animal Works and others are giving them is absolutely essential if we are to stop the total extinction of Save Valley Conservancy’s remaining rhinos.

The other magical thing about Humani as always is the people.  On this expedition, the Aussie group, together with Michael Jeh from Barefoot in Africa, kindly brought out the remaining donated second hand laptops for the school.  The school doesn’t have electricity, so we had to work out how to handle that when we got there.  I’m now in the process with help from the team at Humani of using some of the funds raised by the expedition group to put a solar charging system in at the school so the laptops can be charged daily.  A couple of the girls who are computer experts, Dish and Chantal, gave the teachers some training in the use of the computers, which was enriching on both sides.

The Aussies also got their hands dirty over the weekend by painting the Humani School sign, so the kids got a real surprise on Monday morning when they arrived to see a bright blue new sign with fluoro yellow writing at the entrance!  New glass for broken windows at the school was also provided from the expedition funds.  At the official hand over, our guide Limon reminded the kids that tourists like this group come out to see the animals like rhinos, which is why it’s so important that they conserve their natural heritage.

Finally, always one of the highlights of a trip to Humani is visiting Karen Paolillo at the Turgwe Hippo Trust.  The hippos didn’t let the group down by appearing to put on a show for them at incredibly close range on land during broad daylight, safe in the knowledge that Karen knows the pod intimately and would not put them at any risk. The group handed over a $500 donation to the Turgwe Hippo Trust from Animal Works which was raised by the expedition itself.

After Humani, the expeditioners went on to Wilderness Safaris’ Davisons’ Camp in Hwange National Park where I’m told it was lions, elephants, lions, elephants, and more lions and elephants!  For me it was off to Indonesia with my family to meet some Komodo dragons, leatherback turtles and experience my first rather terrifying earth quake (in a little known island called Flores).  I’ve now moved to Singapore, the land of high rises and millionaires, where my little family is in the process of settling in to a very different world…  More on that in another blog!

Thanks to everyone who made Animal Works’ first expedition to Zimbabwe such a success – just to mention a few:  Roger and Anne, Adrienne, Limon and Gareth, Lucia, Fungai and the Turgwe Camp staff, and all the gang at Humani, Fungai and the lovely teachers and kids at Humani Primary School, Michael Jeh the group’s tour leader from Barefoot in Africa, The Classic Safari Company for processing our guests so brilliantly, Karen Paolillo at the Turgwe Hippo Trust and our ‘guinea pigs’ from Australia who were such fabulous company and real troupers on the ground – Anissa, Sid and Dish, Helen & Margi, Trent and Tracey, Chantal, Vanessa and Kerry.  One thing’s for sure – the Africa bug has struck again…