JUST ANOTHER DAY IN AFRICA

[RobynG]

An old friend of mine who used to live in Zambia sent me the most astonishing photographs of elephants at Mfuwe Lodge, South Luanga National Park, Zambia. The lodge was unwittingly built on the herds migratory path to some wild mango trees on the property. The dozen or so elephants aren't going to let a little thing like that hinder them. They lumber through the reception area at least twice a day for 4 weeks or so and then sporadically for another 3 weeks to feed on the mango trees. Apparently over the years the elephants have become very relaxed and often explore the reception area. Everybody treats them with the utmost respect and no incidents have been reported to date!

All the photographs belong to Mfuwe Lodge. To see more go to www.mfuwelodge.com/gallery_elephants.htm

To see elephants of a different kind see here http://artpropelled.blogspot.com/2008/09/you-can-buy-my-heart-and-my-soul.html

[RobynG]

Barb this is wonderful. I think we need to start an elephant fan club. Thanks for posting the link.

[Wendy]

Ohhhh, they are so beautiful...thanks for sharing them!

[Mary Hicks]

Wow! What a beautiful thing to witness. Thank you for sharing this, Barb!

The "old" elephant at the Denver Zoo when I was growing up was named Cookie. She had at least two babies, I remember. Cookie lived to be very old, and she died just a few years ago. It was very sad news.

[jane]

amazing video.. nature is a truly wonderful thing. thanks barb.... made me cry.... but thats not unusual! x

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Just watched this amazing footage of an elephant being born and wanted to share it with you

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/656611/d1dfcfee/live_olifant_geboorte_tv.html

[RobynG]

The cutest little thing! He looks as though he might start trumpeting any minute. Thanks Barb!

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

[RobynG]

Mfuwe Lodge is on my bucket list too, Francine.

Barb, sorry I havn't replied to your comment until now. I think as wildlife territories get smaller the more problems will arise between people and animals. The same thing is happening with the monkeys in our area. As forests are chopped down and more housing goes up the monkeys are being forced into "our" terrtory.

[Francine]

Such beautiful and majestic creatures. They are, without doubt one of my most favourite. I love how they are being allowed to follow their natural habits more or less undisturbed. I think without doubt that going to see them in their natural habitat is on my bucket list.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Kenya's Elephants Send Text Messages
By KATHARINE HOURELD, AP

OL PEJETA, Kenya (Oct. 11) - The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.
The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as "near threatened" in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The race to save Kimani began two years ago. The Kenya Wildlife Service had already reluctantly shot five elephants from the conservancy who refused to stop crop-raiding, and Kimani was the last of the regular raiders. The Save the Elephants group wanted to see if he could break the habit.
So they placed a mobile phone SIM card in Kimani's collar, then set up a virtual "geofence" using a global positioning system that mirrored the conservatory's boundaries. Whenever Kimani approaches the virtual fence, his collar texts rangers.
They have intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began. Once almost a nightly raider, he last went near a farmer's field four months ago.
It's a huge relief to the small farmers who rely on their crops for food and cash for school fees. Basila Mwasu, a 31-year-old mother of two, lives a stone's throw from the conservancy fence. She and her neighbors used to drum through the night on pots and pans in front of flaming bonfires to try to frighten the elephants away.
Once an elephant stuck its trunk through a window into a room where her baby daughter was sleeping and the family had stored some corn. She beat it back with a burning stick. Another time, an elephant killed a neighbor who was defending his crop.
"We had to go into town to tell the game (wardens) to chase the elephants away or we're going to kill them all," Mwasu remembered.
But the elephants kept coming back.
Batian Craig, the conservation and security manager at the 90,000 acre Ol Pejeta conservancy, says community development programs are of little use if farmers don't have crops. He recalled the time when 15 families had their harvests wiped out.
"As soon as a farmer has lost his livelihood for six months, he doesn't give a damn whether he has a school or a road or water or whatever," he said.
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, said the project is still in its infancy — so far only two geofences have been set up in Kenya — and it has its problems.
Collar batteries wear out every few years. Sometimes communities think placing a collar on an elephant implies ownership and responsibility for the havoc it causes. And it's expensive work — Ol Pejeta has five full-time staff and a standby vehicle to respond when a message flashes across a ranger's screen.
But the experiment with Kimani has been a success, and last month another geofence was set up in another part of the country for an elephant known as Mountain Bull. Moses Litoroh, the coordinator of Kenya Wildlife Service's elephant program, hopes the project might help resolve some of the 1,300 complaints the Service receives every year over crop raiding.
The elephants can be tracked through Google Earth software, helping to map and conserve the corridors they use to move from one protected area to another. The tracking also helps prevent poaching, as rangers know where to deploy resources to guard valuable animals.
But the biggest bonus so far has been the drop in crop raiding. Douglas-Hamilton says elephants, like teenagers, learn from each other, so tracking and controlling one habitual crop raider can make a whole group change its habits.
Mwasu's two young daughters play under the banana trees these sultry evenings without their mother worrying about elephants.
"We can live together," she said. "Elephants have the right to live, and we have the right to live too."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-10-11 10:46:52