Due to some wild weather headed towards the northern NSW coastline, locals are battening down the hatches so we’ve decide to postpone our Africa night at the Bangalow Heritage Centre to March. New date to be advised shortly. Thanks to everyone who booked and apologies for this, but we hope you can make it on the new date. Stand by for more details!
Thanks to everyone who came along to last week’s event in Perth to raise funds for the African Wildlife Conservation Trust, specifically for the African wild dog research and conservation project in Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe. It was another fantastic night with lots of fellow lovers of Africa, talking about both elephants and African wild dogs and their plight in the wild, and it was great to meet some old friends and meet new ones with a similar passion. Best of all, the night raised enough for almost 4 motorbikes for the African wild dog project in Zimbabwe – a great result! Big thanks especially to the fantastic team at Painted Dog Conservation Inc. led by the tireless John and Angela Lemon who invited me over. It’s local community efforts driven by passionate individuals like this that keep important conservation work going on the ground in Africa. A massive salute to them and those who support them.
Wild dog family, SVC, Zimbabwe (copyright Tammie Matson)
You can become a member of Painted Dog Conservation Inc. and support on ground conservation efforts in Africa, including Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe and donations are tax deductable to Australians. They aren’t only supporting African wild dog projects, but also the work of ‘lion whisperer’ Kevin Richardson, who I’m told will be back in Australia in May and doing some events around the country with the PDC group.
In 2016, I’ll be leading a group of fellow Africa-philes on a very unique conservation experience in Zimbabwe, which will include time in the Save Valley Conservancy with Bryce and Lara Clemence, the rhino anti-poaching team, Karen Paolillo, ‘the hippo lady’, and Rosemary Groom and Jess Watermeyer, who run the African wild dog project there. This will be a totally unique behind the scenes experience, and part of what you pay will contribute to these projects – a real safari that makes a difference! If you’d like to register your interest early, please drop me a line here. Dates and price will be released in the next month.
Here’s a few memories of the inspirational night in Perth (thanks for the pics Ange!).
John Lemon and I with the lovely RARE bag that PDC Inc presented me with on the night – thanks guys!
