Thanks to Abraham Banda who got these great photos of the unfolding drama……

The family herd desperately trying to help the screaming Mum and baby escape, but they were completely stuck in the deep, rapidly drying mud with no chance of getting out:-

The brave and skilled SLCS team manages to slip a rope under the baby, narrowly avoiding mums thrashing trunk – and starts to haul her out …..
‘

Nearly there – the whole team is hauling as hard as they can…..But the baby is terribly frightened and won’t leave mum’s side

Again – she’s out and we think we’re almost there…..But despite frantic waving and shouting – she won’t leave her mum

One more try – the team pull her further away from mum this time…..They unwrap the ropes and help her to her feet

This time – thanks to a young herd cousin calling her to safety…..she makes a dash for it as the rest of the herd scream for her to come to them

Now back to mum who is dehydrated and exhausted – they’ve been pouring water over her to try to protect her from the scorching midday sun. SLCS staff carefully slip a rope under her…

and the tractor starts to pull and pull – inching her out of what would have been a muddy grave – she seems to sense that there’s a chance of escape and begins to struggle for her life.

With us all shouting encouragment and just willing her to keep going “come on Mama, come on Mama”……. to the delight of us all – she makes it! Weak and wobbly she drags herself out

she runs to find her baby and the rest of her waiting herd! The happiest possible ending!

The SLCS team all share a celebratory drink on the Kapani deck with their relieved guests!

This is all in a day’s work for the amazing Rachel McRobb and her outstanding team at The South Luangwa Conservation Society. Go to www.slcszambia.org - it’s a fantastic site and well worth a visit. You will be amazed at what this relatively small group can achieve – their dedication and commitment to wildlife is inspiring.

Together with their local wildlife authority – the South Luangwa Area Management Unit of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, they are extremely effective at anti-poaching activities including anti-snaring and patrolling in vulnerable areas of the National Park. Rachel and her team are also skilled at darting snared animals, removing the snares and treating the horrific wounds they cause. Their awareness raising activities and work with other local conservation groups are incredibly effective. Of course – this all takes money so they are always looking for people to consider becoming regular supporters.

My friend Christina wrote “It was extremely heartening for us all to see how many local people joined in the efforts to free these two elephants – the cheers of joy, first when the baby ran to his cousin and then when Mum was finally released from the jaws of the sticky, cloying mud were wonderful! Everyone seemed to identify with the mum’s plight – we all saw the incredible emotional bond between the worried herd members and mum and baby.

Thank you SLCS and ZAWA and also all the NCS staff who bravely fought to make this a happy ending!”

Thanks to Abraham Banda who got these great photos of the unfolding drama……

The family herd desperately trying to help the screaming Mum and baby escape, but they were completely stuck in the deep, rapidly drying mud with no chance of getting out:-

The brave and skilled SLCS team manages to slip a rope under the baby, narrowly avoiding mums thrashing trunk – and starts to haul her out …..
‘

Nearly there – the whole team is hauling as hard as they can…..But the baby is terribly frightened and won’t leave mum’s side

Again – she’s out and we think we’re almost there…..But despite my frantic waving and shouting – she won’t leave her mum

One more try – the team pull her further away from mum this time…..They unwrap the ropes and help her to her feet

This time – thanks to a young herd cousin calling her to safety…..she makes a dash for it as the rest of the herd scream for her to come to them

Now back to mum who is dehydrated and exhausted – they’ve been pouring water over her to try to protect her from the scorching midday sun. SLCS staff carefully slip a rope under her…

and the tractor starts to pull and pull – inching her out of what would have been a muddy grave – she seems to sense that there’s a chance of escape and begins to struggle for her life.

With us all shouting encouragment and just willing her to keep going “come on Mama, come on Mama”……. to the delight of us all – she makes it! Weak and wobbly she drags herself out

she runs to find her baby and the rest of her waiting herd! The happiest possible ending!

The SLCS team all share a celebratory drink on the Kapani deck with their relieved guests!

This is all in a day’s work for the amazing Rachel McRobb and her outstanding team at The South Luangwa Conservation Society. Go to www.slcszambia.org - it’s a fantastic site and well worth a visit. You will be amazed at what this relatively small group can achieve – their dedication and commitment to wildlife is inspiring.

Together with their local wildlife authority – the South Luangwa Area Management Unit of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, they are extremely effective at anti-poaching activities including anti-snaring and patrolling in vulnerable areas of the National Park. Rachel and her team are also skilled at darting snared animals, removing the snares and treating the horrific wounds they cause. Their awareness raising activities and work with other local conservation groups are incredibly effective. Of course – this all takes money so they are always looking for people to consider becoming regular supporters.

My friend Christina wrote “It was extremely heartening for us all to see how many local people joined in the efforts to free these two elephants – the cheers of joy, first when the baby ran to his cousin and then when Mum was finally released from the jaws of the sticky, cloying mud were wonderful! Everyone seemed to identify with the mum’s plight – we all saw the incredible emotional bond between the worried herd members and mum and baby.

Thank you SLCS and ZAWA and also all the NCS staff who bravely fought to make this a happy ending!”

Global Ethics is currently celebrating the milestone of donating £3 million to fund water projects in Africa, giving over 840,000 people access to a clean, sustainable and safe drinking water source. They have funded over 420 Play Pump water systems; these are children’s roundabouts, which pump clear water from deep underground into storage tanks while kids have fun spinning on the Playpump merry-go-round, and over 84 HIV projects and 12 vegetable gardens.

“One” have just launched a fantastic competition to find talented young social entrepreneurs in the UK called “One Big Idea”. The competition aims to find the next social entrepreneur and engage people of all ages to create the next “One” branded ethical product to directly improve the lives of thousands of people in Malawi. The winning product will be launched in selected Co-operative food stores across the UK.

The competition is open to young people nationwide and will be judged by Duncan Bannatyne and Doug Richard amongst others. Commenting on the competition, Duncan Bannatyne said:“The One Big Idea will not only inspire a new generation of social entrepreneurs, but will also show them how they can directly make a difference to communities in Malawi.”

This is an amazing and unique opportunity for an individual to really change lives around the world, the winner will work closely with the Global Ethics team to source their product, put their winning idea into production and produce the media campaign to support it.

To find out more about how to enter the competition, visit www.onebigidea.org.uk

You can enter at home, at school, at work, on your own or as part of a team. So please let everyone know.

I went to an event the other night with a friend of mine. This company, Global Ethics are making a huge impact in Africa. Their play pumps are proving to be a huge success. I met the guy who set it all up. I told him that bloggers could help spread the word.

More than a billion people have no access to clean water and right now there is the worst drought in east Africa in at least a decade. This drought that has affected Kenya and three other countries threatens more than 23m people with starvation. Aid agencies are saying this is the worst disaster in the region for 10 years. It has dried up rivers, shrivelled crops, killed thousands of animals and brought hydro power generation to a halt.

The crisis is most severe in Ethiopia, where nearly 14 million people need food. In Kenya, the figure is just under 5m and in Somalia, where war is compounding food shortages, it is 3.6m.

Here’s the link to their website. Read all about it:- www.onedifference.org

Also if any of you know of any functions/events/festivals/countries/shops that would be interested in stocking the One Water then you should do something about it.

Thanks x

It feels strange to be back. With the memories of that vast, dry, cracked, almost prehistoric African bush enticing you back into a world that existed centuries ago – challenging you to go on a journey back in to your past. Where you feel immensely alive and completely awestruck by the raw, huge, immense, out of control world where you experience nature in it’s most basic form. Where you can sit on the edge of your bed feeling very small and defenceless whilst an enormous Bull elephant rips branches off a tree just oustide your window, having lumbered up from the river to remind you that you are a part of a life force that is so so much bigger than you.

I am not sure how long my vast picture of life is going to last. It appears to be diminishing by the minute. As I write, teenage son is throwing a tennis ball against the wall right in front of my face, relentlessly and my teenage daughter and her friend are on “Singstar” next door and singing horrible songs very loudly and very badly and my youngest son is boredboredbored andthereiscompletelynothingtodoaroundhere and I would quite like to killthemall.