Next month, conservation heavyweights and their loyal supporters will join forces to raise awareness and funds for the Elephant Crisis Fund, an initiative dedicated to protecting one of Africa’s most beloved and endangered inhabitants, the elephant.

An estimated 35,000 elephants are being lost every year to poachers, and these numbers continue to stabilize and even grow, due to the surge in demand for ivory throughout China and the US. The Elephant Crisis Fund was created to combat today’s bleak statistics and to preserve the fate of the majestic species.

Aptly deemed the Sundown Gala, this exclusive event will be held at the private Malibu estate of Liane & Richard Weintraub, La Villa Contenta - whose eight bluff-top acres and lush grounds will be transformed into a slice of the bush, complete with locally-grown cuisine and Africa–infused cocktails­.

Among the evening’s program of events, a ROAR AFRICA luxury safari valued at $25,000 will be auctioned to the highest bidder. The journey’s itinerary was tailor-crafted by our CEO & Founder Deborah Calmeyer to grant two travelers an intimate, educational and priceless experience built around a passion for elephant conservation.

The 10-day East Africa itinerary includes three nights at Elephant Watch Camp in Kenya, a stunning safari oasis that is so closely tied to elephant conservation that its structure was in fact built from reclaimed wood that had been pulled down by elephants or left behind by flash floods. Another remarkable stop along the journey is Chem Chem Safari Lodge in Tanzania, a property famous for their ‘slow safari’, an ethos that promotes safari as a tangible, sensual experience beyond the confines of a vehicle.

To learn more about Save the Elephants, Wildlife Conservation Network, or to RSVP to the Sundown Gala, please visit the official site of the event, www.sundowngala.com.

Nestled amongst 20,000 acres in the Timbavati Game Reserve in South Africa’s Limpopo province, lies Tanda Tula, a tented safari lodge and home to the Big 5.

After a much anticipated flight from Cape Town to Nelspruit, a short lodge hop to the landing strip in the Timbavati was the only thing between us and the life of wild. I was über-excited to be back in the bushveld; this was going to be another epic trip and Facebook was waiting for any update. Upon arrival, there was no sign of our transfer so my friend and I took the opportunity to stage an impromptu monochrome photo shoot next to our six-seater prop plane, channelling the likes of Karen Blixen and Louis Vuitton. Our host for the next four days, Dale Jackson, arrived tout de suite to whisk his charges away and so began our latest bush adventure.

The Timbavati Reserve is new territory for me. To its south is the Sabi Sand Reserve, one I am more familiar with and to the east, the great Kruger Park lies, its fences down, allowing a plethora of animals to roam freely (as it should be) between the two. It was not long into our transfer to the lodge before the towering sight of an elephant came into view on the main road to Tanda Tula. These giants of the bushveld are the pedestrians and to them, one must give way. The consequences can be eventful and expensive!

On arrival at Tanda Tula, we were greeted by the cheeky smile of Thabo, he basically runs the place, or so he would like one to think. He promptly set my luggage aloft on his head for transport to my tent; his little trick to try to impress the ladies! Next were our ranger, Civilized, and his tracker, Jack; a fine team that the animals cannot elude. A quick refreshing welcome drink and we were off to be shown our lodging for the next four days. Tanda Tula is a tented camp and we were certainly not disappointed by the beautifully appointed rooms, all with porches overlooking the dry riverbed. We were shown the ins and outs of securing the entry to our tent to avoid the mishaps associated with curious, mischievous monkeys who will grasp any opportunity to run amok in the tents.

We arrived in time to enjoy a little poolside lunch with views of the watering hole where impala and warthogs munched happily away. I will say this for Tanda Tula – they probably have one of the BEST chefs in the bush. This food is Michelin star worthy and Chef Ryan and his team create the most organic, uncomplicated, mouth-watering dishes. Ryan’s homemade pesto was a constant at every meal because it made absolutely everything even better. It was so good I wanted to take some home to put under my pillow! I have attempted to recreate it now that I am back at home (the recipe is on the website) but it is just not the same! Ryan’s attention to detail and his enthusiasm when he explains each meal is infectious and the anticipation you are left with is quickly satiated with the first forkful. He is a true genius at his craft. Meals are especially exceptional at Tanda Tula. Breakfast was always served in the bush overlooking the dried riverbed and the offerings were plentiful from bacon, eggs and sausage to pancakes, sautéed mushrooms and a cold buffet. Dinner at the lodge always led to late night conversations with new acquaintances accompanied by a glass (or two) of Amarula, the Bailey’s of the bush and one of my vices!

Have I mentioned that each night when I go to bed I wish I was waking up to a game drive? It’s true! So when that blessed time actually comes, there is no boundary to my excitement. In jest, I mentioned to Civilized and Jack that there were three sightings on my must-see list this time around – the white lions of the Timbabvati, a pangolin and a honey badger. Now, for those who have yet to embark on their first safari, this may sound achievable but I promise you, this is no easy task hence why it was ‘in jest’. BUT, on the afternoon of our 2nd day, Civilized announced he had a surprise for us but we would have to hurry and forego any sightings for the next twenty-five minutes if we wanted to see it. The word was out that the white lions had been spotted so off we sped to catch a glimpse! I have been on I would say close to fifty game drives and when you see an animal for the first time, it takes your breath away. The white lions were no different. Oh, I have seen plenty of lions in the wild but the white lions are something very special. They are not albino but instead a recessive ‘white’ gene has been inherited from both parents causing the fur to be white and the eyes and skin to pigment. The condition is rare and the Timbavati is one of very few places in Africa that these lions inhabit. My anticipation was limitless for the twenty-five minute drive and then we saw them; a pride of female lions, in which two were white lions. As we eked closer to them, stopping about twelve feet away, I sat quietly in awe of them before I remembered that I had to get footage to prove that they were in fact real. Simply beautiful.

Our four days at Tanda Tula were full of amazing sightings and watching heart-pumping interactions. From lionesses stalking cape buffalo only to be scattered like cockroaches when the tables turned to a 29-strong pack of wild dogs tempting fate with a mating herd of elephants complete with hyena on the periphery. We followed leopards to their kills and watched the young with their mothers yet the pangolin and the honey badger remained elusive. That was no surprise. We fell asleep to the call of lions and awoke to grazing nyalas an arm’s length away. With a different locale each evening for dinner, from the beautiful boma with its warming fire to the poolside lawn aglow with lanterns, Tanda Tula gave us a new experience in every way on every day.

I always dread my last morning at any lodge. I have never been a fan of goodbyes and Tanda Tula was no different. The attention to detail that the staff goes to to ensure that your stay lacks for nothing is a testament to the African people. I will never tire of their names; Civilized, Dolphin, Pretty, Pinky, Happiness, to name just a few. As I prepared myself for the farewell embraces before entering our van that would whisk us back to reality, I encouraged my sunglasses onto my nose to hide my welling eyes. It happens every time, only to be shed again upon my next visit. Thank you, Tanda Tula, and all of your charges for another magical notch in my travel bucket list.

The best part about leaving Africa is knowing when you’re coming back!

Best,

Zoe Mulholland

**This African adventure, as with all of my others, was designed by Roar Africa - look no further when booking your travels to Africa.

ROAR AFRICA is dedicated to sharing the majesty of Africa - its lush terrain, diverse wildlife, and beautiful people - with the world. To do this, we work closely with many lodges and hotels, fostering trusted partnerships to ensure that our guests are in the very best hands.

One of our favorites, Singita, is a portfolio of remarkable lodges that do more than just deliver an incomparable consumer experience. In an age where the destruction of pristine wilderness is seemingly beyond repair, Singita is making a profound difference in many parts of our beloved continent. They are orchestrating an interdependent relationship between communities, wildlife and tourism that ensures true sustainability, and the ability to embrace and share it. Anyone familiar with tourism in Africa will tell that it is no secret: Singita is blazing a trail which is seldom achieved on this scale anywhere else on the continent. 

The Singita properties and the people that work there are shining examples of Africa as a place for innovation, adventure, growth, and hope. Recently posted on Singita's blog, the below video is of Joyful Nghala, a recent graduate of Singita School of Cooking - an 18-month program to encourage the development of culinary skills and employment opportunities among local youth, and one of the many ways Singita is positively impacting its community. Joyful is now employed at Singita Lebombo lodge in Kruger National Park, and continues to nurture her passion and broaden her future opportunities daily. 

Watch this heartwearming video to learn more about Joyful Nghala and the Singita School of Cooking...

A brand new electric Land Rover arrived at Londolozi over Christmas. Courtesy of Barkers Performance Products and Land Rover, the electric vehicle was sent here to be put through a rigorous and rough field test owing to the success and pioneering development of Londolozi’s first three prototype electric Land Rovers. Having unveiled this new product at South Africa’s Tourism Indaba in May, Land Rover and Barkers Performance product have created a hugely impressive vehicle and when it arrived on our doorstep just before Christmas, we simply had to put it to the test!

The Electric Landrover runs off an Air cooled AC Induction Motor with 330Nm of Torque and 59kW of Motor Power.  The batter is comprised of Air cooled Lithium Phosphate and has a voltage of 300V.  Ranging from 80km per battery on the open road and +20km through a game reserve, the vehicle is able to offer a game drive of approximately 8 hours.  The gear stick features Drive, Neutral and Reverse with 4WD and Low Range.

Although we are testing the vehicle over a number of weeks, we decided to examine the performance through a few different disciplines: Acceleration & Speed; Gradient; Silence and Sand.

Londolozi has been at the forefront of pioneering the first ever Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle. The vision for this vehicle is to run purely on batter power which in turn is charged by solar panels. The carbon output would thus be zero, except for that used during the manufacturing of the vehicle.  Since 2009, when we unveiled our first prototype electric Landrover, the journey has been extremely fun yet also challenging. Our second prototype burnt down soon after completion, owing to an electric failure.  Yet with the help of Anton Komar and Sid from Green Rover we managed to achieve a reasonable level of success with our prototype number 3.

Our intention at Londolozi is to continue to be a leader towards a truly Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle and change our entire fleet to electric vehicles as soon as the opportunity presents itself.  This initiative, in particular, forms part of our broader goal to dramatically minimize our carbon footprint on the environment.

Thankfully it seems to be all about rescues this past week: rhino, elephant and now a lion cub.
This just in from Mugie Conservacy in Kenya:

"This little 3 week old cub was first seen 3 days ago marooned on a small island in the river bed below the Mugie dam (been flooding for over a week now), but was described a being 3 months old or more, we waited to see if the floods would subside and if mum would appear. Today, I sent Papa 1 & Frank to wade into the river to get close enough to throw pieces of meat on to the Island and hopefully it could survive for while longer whilst we would be monitoring what might happen. But when they got close they could see how much younger it is and went on to the island and picked him up & brought him in. Ol Jogi have all necessary to rear such a little creature so they sent a plane over and he is now receiving rehrydrents over there."

There is of course debate about interference with wildlife - man should not meddle. However, many people are of the opinion that where man has created a survival problem interference is warranted (especially snares, fences etc..). Since Mugie is one of the core study areas of the ‘Laikipia Predator Project, a research study aimed at improving the conservation of large carnivores throughout Africa (desperately needed we might add), a lion rescue is perhaps appropriate and they are also uniquely qualified to act.
Hopefully this little one can be reintroduced to the wild in time.

Congratulations to The South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and Norman Carr Safaris (NCS) who rescued a mother elephant and calf.  We were hosted by NCS just last month when we took National Geographic's Boyd Matson to visit South Luangwa.  We were touched by this rescue story so we put the photos and text into a slideshow to share.

More on the NCS blog post here.

And you can support SLCS's excellent work here.

ROAR AFRICA

This is a time for you abandon any zeal you may have for complete and utter truth and enjoy a good story (which may have a grain or ten of truth in it). I do hope so. After all, strange things do happen.....

Wilbur Smith and the Rhino.
A factual account by Wilbur Smith.

The plight of the Black Rhinoceros is, of course, due mostly to the value of its horn and the ferocious poaching that this engenders. However, a contributory factor to the declining rhino population is the animals disorganized mating habits. It seems that the female rhino only becomes receptive to the male's attentions every three years or so, while the male only becomes interested in her at the same intervals. A condition known quite appropriately as "Must".
The problem is one of synchronization, for their amorous inclinations do not always coincide.
In the early Sixties, I was invited, along with a host of journalists and other luminaries, to be present at an attempt by the Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Department to solve this problem of poor timing. The idea was to capture a male rhino and induce him to deliver up that which could be stored until that day in the distant future when his mate's fancy turned lightly to thoughts of love. We departed from the Zambezi Valley in an impressive convoy of trucks and Land Rovers, counting in our midst none other than the Director of the game department in person, together with his minions, a veterinary surgeon, an electrician and sundry other technicians, all deemed necessary to make the harvest.
The local game scouts had been sent out to scout the bush for the largest, most virile rhino they could find. They had done their job to perfection and led us to a beast at least the size of a small granite koppie with a horn on his nose considerably longer than my arm. The trick was to get this monster into a robust mobile pen, which had been constructed to accommodate him.
With the Director of the Game Department shouting frantic orders from the safety of the largest truck, the pursuit was on. The tumult and the shouting were apocalyptic. Clouds of dust flew in all directions, trees, and vegetation were destroyed, game scouts scattered like chaff, but finally the Rhino had about a litre of narcotics shot into his rump and his mood became dreamy and benign. With forty black game guards heaving and shoving, and the Director still shouting orders from the truck, the rhino was wedged into his cage, and stood there with a happy grin on his face.
At this stage, the Director deemed it safe to emerge from the cab of his truck and he came amongst us resplendent in starched and immaculately ironed bush jacket with a colourful silk scarf at this throat. With an imperial gesture, he ordered the portable electric generator to be brought forward and positioned behind the captured animal. This was a machine, which was capable of lighting up a small city, and it was equipped with two wheels that made it resemble a roman chariot.
The Director climbed up on the generator to better address us. We gathered around attentively while he explained what was to happen next.
It seemed that the only way to get what we had come for was to introduce an electrode into the rhino's rear end, and to deliver a mild electric shock, no more than a few volts, which would be enough to pull his trigger for him.
The Director gave another order and the veterinary surgeon greased something that looked like an acoustic torpedo and which was attached to the generator with sturdy insulated wires. He then went up behind the somnolent beast and thrust it up him to a full arms length, at which the Rhino opened his eyes very wide indeed.
The veterinary and his two black assistants now moved into position with a large bucket and assumed expectant expressions. We, the audience, crowded closer so as not to miss a single detail of the drama. The Director still mounted on the generator trailer, nodded to the electrician who threw the switch and chaos reigned. In the subsequent departmental enquiry the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of the electrician. It seems that in the heat of the moment his wits had deserted him and instead of connecting up his apparatus to deliver a gentle 5 volts, he had crossed his wires and the Rhino received a full 500 volts up his rear end.
His reaction was spectacular. Four tons of rhinoceros shot six feet straight up in the air. The cage, made of great timber baulks, exploded into its separate pieces and the rhinoceros now very much awake, took off at a gallop.
We, the audience, were no less spritely. We took to the trees with alacrity.
This was the only occasion on which I have ever been passed by two journalists half way up a Mopane tree.
From the top branches we beheld an amazing sight, for the chariot was still connected to the Rhinoceros per rectum, and the director of the game department was still mounted upon it, very much like Ben Hur, the charioteer.
As they disappeared from view, the rhinoceros was snorting and blowing like a steam locomotive and the Director was clinging to the front rail of his chariot and howling like the north wind, which only encouraged the beast to greater speed.
The story has a happy ending for the following day after the director had returned hurriedly to his office in Salisbury , another male Rhinoceros was captured and caged and this time the electrician got his wiring right.
I can still see the Rhinoceros's expression of surprised gratification as the switch was thrown. You could almost hear him think to himself. "Oh Boy!
I didn't think this was going to happen to me for at least another three years".

I wrote about my visit to Zimababwe's Singita Pamushana back in November, so it is with great pride that I am able to share the news that Singita Pamushana has been awarded "Global Winner" at the World Travel & Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.

One of Singita Game Reserve's nine low-impact/high-end game lodges in southern and East Africa, Singita Pamushana is often referred to as 'one of southern Africa's best kept secrets'. It was selected as winner in this prestigious global competition amongst two other outstanding finalists in the Conservation category: Frégate Island in the Seychelles; and The Jane Goodall Institute/Budongo Ecotourism Development Project in Uganda.

Singita Pamushana was established with the core purpose of making a meaningful contribution towards the cost of conserving the extraordinary 130,000 acres Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. This confident venture into a world-class tourism product for Zimbabwe impressed the panel of international judges as a model for private tourism practice that uniquely subsists solely to generate income via high value tourism. The goal is to make a major contribution to the national goal of rehabilitating the country's wildlife and tourism industries.

The natural habitat in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve has now been rehabilitated to its original state, and today Singita Pamushana has the finest quality wildlife in Zimbabwe. These range from endangered Black Rhino to Roan Antelope and Lichtenstein's Hartebeest. Under Singita Pamushana's sensitive management, the wildlife populations have shown exhilarating growth after the carefully managed reintroduction.

Luke Bailes, CEO of Singita Game Reserves says:

"It is a great honor to be recognized by an organization such as the World Travel & Tourism Council for our approach to conservation, and for the conservation-related programs that are in place at Singita Pamushana. These create the context within which our guests can experience African wildlife at its very best. Singita Pamushana exemplifies our approach to sustainable tourism and is a paradigm of how we can contribute meaningfully to conserving vast ecological zones, in so doing preserving these areas and their wildlife for future generations."

One day in 1998, in South Africa, I followed a yellow-billed kite into a thermal on my paraglider. We soared together close enough that I could see the individual feathers on its wingtips making adjustments. I still get goosebumps more than a decade later.

Watch this beautiful footage of Kerri Wolter doing it for the joy AND for a cause: the protection of the Cape Vulture. Less than 2,900 breeding pairs remain. Conservationist Kerri Wolter and paraglider pilot Walter Nesser fly with them. The footage is sublime.


Kerri founded the Vulture Conservation Program in Magaliesberg, South Africa. A beautiful place to fly! Support the program here.

This was also part of the filming of the documentary series Path into the Future.

It may seem obvious, but now it is now documented that elephants pay particular attention to their elders especially when they hear the sound of an approaching lion.
Apparently elephant herds with older matriarchs react faster to the sound of predators than those with younger matriarchs. They also distinguish between male and female lions' roars. These findings of Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex, UK are reported in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
This fact reinforces the importance of the family group. It's a complex social structure that can be severely damaged by outside interference like hunting. One has to assume that removing the matriarch would inhibit the learning process of the herd and endanger their safety. I find this particularly poignant as we are discussing both elephants and lions here. As film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert ("The Last Lions") have pointed out, hunting the alpha male lion can case the death of over 20 lions. The social structure of the pride is destroyed and an incoming male will kill cubs of the previous male.
This story of the elephants is covered on BBC Earth News here along with a video of the elephants reacting to recorded lions. At ROAR AFRICA we have witnessed elephants bunching protectively around their youngsters in reaction to our own presence. Here is a video of exactly that occurring last year: Elephant Encounter, Linyati, Botswana

For more on the amazing documentary film "The Last Lions" and the trailer, click here.

ROAR AFRICA invites you to be our special guest at the screening of The Last Lions documentary film.

Come and meet National Geographic Award winning film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert at the screening of their dramatic storytelling and breathtaking footage of a gripping real-life saga.

Lions are vanishing from the wild. In the last 50 years, lion populations have plummeted from 450,000 to as few as 20,000.

Where: Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston Street (between Broadway & Crosby St)
New York, NY 10012
When: Friday February 18, 2011 from 7:20 PM EST
Please click on the link below to register or RSVP.
Click to Register Now.

View the trailer here:

(Available on the original blog post.)
Derek, Beverley & I look forward to seeing you at The Last Lions.
Should you have any questions about the event or how to register please feel free to contact Deborah at ROAR AFRICA. email
Sincerely,
Deborah

Last December at TEDWomen I was fortunate enough to see this incredibly inspiring speech by Beverly + Dereck Joubert. Documentary filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert have worked to conserve wildlife for more than 25 years. As National Geographic Explorers in Residence they live in the bush, filming and photographing lions and leopards in their natural habitat in Botswana. With stunning footage (some never before seen), they discuss their personal relationships with these majestic animals -- and their quest to save the big cats from human threats.

Watch the speech here:



Note: If you're reading this on Facebook visit the original blog to play the video.

February sees the release of their new movie "The Last Lions". ROAR AFRICA will host an evening at the cinema on the opening night in New York City. Beverly and Dereck will be present for the Q&A session. Check back for details.

For more on Legadema see our previous blog posts here.
Or slideshows of Botswana here.

Death is the price that the world's biggest land mammals are paying for their tusks, which have a lucrative international market. Is Zimbabwe's parks authority sufficiently equipped to effectively curb poaching activities, especially given the fact that poachers are coming into the country with far more sophisticated weapons than the rangers' archaic looking Russian-made AK47 rifles?

Gonarezhou National Park, which is situated in the south eastern part of the country, is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park which incorporates Gaza National Park of Mozambique and Kruger National Park of South Africa. Covering 5 053 square kilometers, this makes it a mammoth task for the few rangers deployed in the park to eradicate poaching activities, which are on the increase worldwide.

Due to the growth experienced in the ivory export business in the 1970s and 1980s, the total elephant population of Africa decreased by half. Up to one million elephants were killed for their tusks to the point where the endangered animal appeared to be on the verge of extinction. In fact there is evidence of elephant tusk size reduction. A rapid evolution due to the gene pool of the largest tuskers being hunted first.

Despite the resource constraints, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA), has made commendable strides in protecting the country's elephant herd and managed to reduce poaching activities by 32 percent last year. Authority would never eradicate poaching completely as it is part of wildlife management but it was critical that it is kept within acceptable levels. A representative said "We are dealing with a well resourced powerful syndicate operating in the region but we are, however, on top of the game as we have noted a decrease in poaching nationwide. We are working with security agents in the country, the Attorney General's Office, the police and the courts to address this issue, Poaching is not new in Africa but we have deployed trained men to the park. Our major challenge is that the rangers cannot cover the whole park"

In 1989 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora banned trade in ivory hoping to protect elephants from poachers. Some Western nations have also provided assistance to African countries in order to help crack down on poachers. Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia have in the past decades accumulated huge stockpiles of ivory through culling, which is meant to keep the elephant herd within manageable levels.

Although the country is bound by a moratorium on ivory trade for nine years it is continuously arguing that if allowed to sell its ivory stockpiles the issue of poaching could be managed better. Zimbabwe, which is sitting on a 34 tonne stockpile of ivory worth US$5.1billion, can only reapply for permission to trade in its ivory in 2017.

More reading:
- For more on the Ivory auction debate see our previous post here.
- More on South African National Parks Elephant Management policy here.
- For an amazing experience with Elephant conservation see this post here. You can get involved with Elephant conservation on your trip to southern Africa by actually collaring an elephant. more on that here.

.....Or just search our blog (top left corner) for "elephant"

To all of our avid Africa fans,

One of our partners, Londolozi - owned and run by the Varty family, is a unique and special place in the Sabi Sands, South Africa. Much of the preservation today in southern Africa and beyond is a result of Dave Varty's tremendous insight and efforts in conservation. Still there is great risk...

• The population of the African elephant, has declined by more than 99% since the 1930s, when as many as 10 million of the great creatures roamed free there.
• Only 10,000 Rhinos exist around the world, down 85 percent since just 1970.
• The continent’s lion population has fallen off by half since the early 1950s when there were an estimated 40,000 “kings of the jungle”.

"Londolozi’ means Protector of all living things. True to our values, we present to you our conservation event for 2010. Five individuals from Londolozi have come together with a mission to raise R500 000 for an endangered species and for literacy. Ultimately, for us, Africa is about the fusion of people and animals and about reconnecting the human spirit back to the wilderness." Londolozi

...and so Shan, Bronwyn & Boyd (Varty), Rich Laburn and Brett Roux are embarking on a grueling challenge to raise funds and continue this relentless endeavor; a 7-day 330km bicycle ride through the northern Namibian desert. Donations will go to Save the Rhino and The Good Work Foundation.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated and anyone who can

donate $600 or more stands a chance to win a 2 night stay at Londolozi’s Private Granite Suites worth $40,000!

To Donate, click here and scroll down:

http://www.marthabeck.com/LEAP/

Please refence your donation with 'C4AC' and then 'your name'.

For more information:

Contact Boyd Varty:

Tel: +27 (0)13 735 5653

E-mail: boydatlondolozi@gmail.com

Links (click for more):

Londolozi
Londolozi Granite Suites
Save The Rhino

After numerous clients of ROAR AFRICA have shown great interest in elephants, having heard about their plight and or after inter-reacting with elephants, we have decided to spread the word on collaring elephants by Save the Elephant Organization.
Heated debates based on fact, assumptions and emotion take place around the world concerning elephants, their numbers and the sale of ivory. Facts based on sound scientific results become essential.
Save the Elephants (www.savetheelephants.org) operates in four countries in Africa. Greater Kruger National Park is the principle area in Southern Africa. Save the Elephants is based in the Timbervati area near the town of Hoedspruit.
One is able to follow what is being done by going onto the webpage. But better still is to become involved by sponsoring or joint sponsoring the collaring of an elephant with your name on it. Through Google Earth your can follow your elephant hour by hour while the device records humidity and temperature on the elephant’s neck.
Below are the collar sponsoring details and options.

• Please note that in the table below you have ten types of sponsoring options to choose from.
• Most satellite collars are deployed at our Northern or Eastern Study sites in the Kruger National Park as these elephants could potentially move into Zimbabwe or Mozambique where cell phone reception would be a problem.
• Elephants collared in the Associated Private Nature Reserved (APNR), which represents our Western Study Site are fitted with GPS/GMS collars (cell phone collars)
• If you sponsor collars you get to name the elephant
• All sponsors of GPS/GMS collars as well as collar deployment costs receive a Google Earth link where they can follow their collared elephant as it moves across the landscape
• Sponsors of deployment costs only, can attend a collaring operation free of charge but will have to cover their own travel and accommodation costs if need be.
• Your contribution will be acknowledged on our website
• Your name will be added to our Elephant Newsletter distribution list
• Orders for collars need to be made at least one month in advance
• We prefer collaring elephants during our cooler months as the heat risk for the elephants are diminished over this time
• We prefer to collar more than one animal on one day so we often like to synchronise collaring operations
• Please remember that you can only sponsor a refurbished collar if we plan on removing an existing collar from a particular animal
• Please note that helicopter costs depend on the hours spent locating the animal and represent estimates only
• All prices are subject to change

click table image to enlarge

For further details contact Geoff:
Email: geoff@roarafrica.com
Tel: +27 72 3479904 or +27 33 2510673
or on www.roarafrica.com

Gorongosa is back in the headlines. This time it's coming to you in HD with the release on March 24th of the National Geographic documentary "Africa's Lost Eden".

Gorongosa was known as “the place where Noah left his Ark:” 4,000 square kilometers of wilderness covering floodplains, mountains and forests in central
Mozambique. It was packed with wild animals but 15 years of civil war took a heavy toll. Now conservationists are restoring the magnificent park and this has been captured on film. The world premier of "Africa's Lost Eden" will be in Washington DC on March 24th followed by a discussion moderated by Chris Matthews.

Film Trailer:


Bob Poole who shot the film over the past two years explains that it was challenging filming in the thick bush of Gorongosa. However, they captured amazing footage using a Phantom HD camera that shoots up to 1500 frames a second. You'll see fantastic super slow motion of eagles plucking fish out of the water and fighting mid air battles, waterfalls, elephants, and crocodiles hatching.

For the aerial shots they used a helicopter fitted with a Cineflex camera - the granddaddy of aerial cinematography with its long lens and a gyroscope stabilizer.

Here's a link to a short film on the making of "Africa's Lost Eden".
The making of Africa's Lost Eden

If you're interested in visiting Gorongosa, have a look at the Explore Gorongosa Tented Camp on our website or give us a call.

You might also be interested in the other posts on this BLOG including the 60 minutes documentary: click here

It's great to see the beautiful country of Mozambique getting the publicity it deserves.

In October ROAR AFRICA hosted the well known Travel Scope show hosts, Joseph and Julie Rosendo, on a trip to southern Africa to film a new TV documentary. Sustainable conservation was the theme of our visit starting at Camp Jabulani in the greater Kruger National Park and ending on the Indian ocean island of Bazaruto.

Joseph on safari

We rose early to catch the sunrise over Africa before a game drive. After breakfast we took a walk with and interacted with sixteen wild (but rescued and trained) elephants. Read more about Camp Jabulani in my September post. Filming and touching five ton bull elephants out in the bush is a privilege of a life time. The focus here and at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre was wildlife conservation, but the important complement to this was what followed our animal adventure each day: visits to local Shangaan villages and schools to understand more about the native culture and discover how they coexist with and benefit from tourism.

Filming the documentary at Camp Jabulani

It is a challenge to educate all humans as to the value of wild life. It is the wild life that brings tourists so as to create employment and wealth. The goals are to conserve the ecology for mutual long term benefit of man, animals, birds, plants – each caring for the other – that is sustainable conservation. To do this effectively the private lodges and reserves we partner with are involved in community projects, for example, building schools. Lion Sands who hosted us in 6 star luxury, has helped build the Henna Pre-school. more about this and other projects on our website in the ROAR AFRICA Cares section- click here. Standards of living of staff working in hospitality are improving along with the education and futures of their children.

Field audio engineer David Stevens finds a ready assistant in the village.

From Lion Sands Private Reserve in South Africa we headed northeast to the Bazaruto archipelago in Mozambique. Here we were hosted by Indigo Bay Island Resort and Spa and Azura Resort. This is a true island paradise of sparkling turquoise waters and beautiful beaches. Most guests relax more than they ever thought possible here, but for us it was early starts and late finishes as we captured paradise on film. Horseriding, diving, sailing dhouws and sand-boarding down 300 foot high dunes amongst other activities . We'll have to go back for Kuta Katila which on Bazaruto means "roll your reed mat out on the sand, lay back and relax.”

More about the Mozambique portion of the trip in the next installment.

Stay tuned for the 2010 release of this series on television.

Joseph on a traditional dhouw in Mozambique.

More about the trip on the Travel Scope site here:

• TravelScope
• Joseph on safari
• Joseph on Bazaruto, Mozambique

Cheetah and many other smaller predators are held responsible for farmers’ livestock deaths. Some are to blame but this has resulted in many cheetah being shot at or killed unnecessarily. There is a win-win solution in the form of the Anatolian Sheep Dog.
Anatolian Shepherd dogs are used by Dr Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and others in the ongoing efforts to prevent cheetahs which have attacked livestock being killed by farmers. These dogs are bred and then given to the farmers to use in protecting and guarding their livestock from cheetah attacks.
The Anatolian sheep dog is spread worldwide, originating in Turkey, and protecting livestock from wolves and other predators for 6,000 years. They have been used in southern Africa for the past fifteen years. These large white dogs (80 Kgs/200 Lbs) live with flocks of sheep, goats or herds of cattle. Unfortunately they have a relatively short life span of less than ten years and are subject to hip dysplasia. They are bred at various breeding centers in South Africa and puppies are placed with farmers in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. One dog is placed per flock and spends its entire life with the sheep or goats believing that it is one of them but protecting them and driving off predators.
To date, over 275 Kangal Anatolian Shepherd have been born and placed on Namibian farmlands by the Cheetah Conservation Fund/CCF. The system is working well with farmers’ reporting large declines in livestock losses and no longer resorting to shooting or poisoning the wild life.
It's ironic that man's best friend is now inadvertently a big cat's best friend!

With the long overdue but significant attention to the rapid decline of the world's frogs, it's about time we mentioned the critically endangered Table Mountain ghost frog. Also known as Roses's Ghost Frog, Heleophryne rosei is ONLY found on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. That's just one mountain in the middle of the city where it lives in about 7-8 km2, in streams and moist, forested gorges.

"This species is adapted to life in fast-flowing mountain streams. Their tadpoles possess sucker-like mouthparts, which they can use to climb up wet, vertical rock surfaces around their streams at night. Adults have been found to stray from streams and have frequently been seen in caves. Numerous threats to this species include the spread of non-native vegetation, frequent fires, heavy ecotourism, and the construction of water storage reservoirs. The virulent fungal disease chytridiomycosis has been found in this species recently and populations are declining fast."

...

"The Table Mountain ghost frog therefore has very few close relatives and is one of the only surviving members of the earliest lineage that gave rise to the modern frogs and toads. The closest ancestors of this species were the first modern frogs."

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www.edgeofexistence.org

Isn't it sad and ironic that "heavy ecotourism" is listed as a threat. For more on endangered species go to EDGE - Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered. For more on endangered frogs in South Africa see Sally Wren's post on the work Werner Conrad is doing.

Man and animals have always been competing for space and now more so than ever. Animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas with dire consequences if they should enter mans’ space. A less obvious result of this is that animals' natural migratory paths have been distrupted which has forced "unnatural" human intervention in managing animal populations and habitats.

An initiative that can help reverse this is the creation of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or "Peace Parks" - cross border jointly managed natural resources. The removal of boundaries opens larger tracts of commonly managed land allowing a more natural flow of animals in a larger area.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement of 1999 defines a TFCA as "the area or component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries, encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas". The good news is that SADC political leaders have recognised the importance of TFCAs and have dedicated effort to make them a reality. Just two days ago, at a ministerial meeting that took place on the banks of the Zambezi River in Katima Mulilo, five SADC ministers with the portfolios of environment and tourism in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe expressed satisfaction with the progress made on the proposed trans-frontier tourism park.

There are 7 Southern Africa Peace Park initiatives at various stages of proposal or development but as many as 15 parks proposed by the Peace Park Foundation. Have a look at this map from the foundation for a bigger picture: (click to enlarge)

Here are some of the initiatives with the greatest traction:

|Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park: A vast mountain desert that is the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld National Park, an area managed jointly by the local Nama people and the South African National Parks. straddles the borders of South Africa and Namibia. It consists of the 1 625 square kilometre Richtersveld National Park (a World Heritage Site) in South Africa and the 4 420 square kilometres /Ai–/Ais National Park in Namibia.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: An amalgamation of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa (proclaimed in 1931)and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares – one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude left in the world.

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park: The most well known initiative links Kruger National Park in South Africa, the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as two areas between Kruger and Gonarezhou – the Sengwe communal land in Zimbabwe and the Makuleke region in South Africa. The park presently covers 35 000 square kilometres but will eventually expand to a staggering 100 000 square kilometres. Ultimately is may run to the coast- to bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique.

Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area: The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area straddles the borders of Swaziland, southern Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal and consists of five distinct transfrontier conservation areas (including the current Tembi Park) that are woven together by the Lubombo Mountains, a long and narrow mountain range threading across these three countries.

Maloti – Drakensburg: The Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Consefvation Area straddles the borders of South Africa and Lesotho and includes the Maloti and Drakensberg Mountain ranges.

Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area: The Limpopo-Shashe park straddles the international borders of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe and is situated at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers.

Kavango – Zambezi: The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is situated in the Okavango and Zambezi River basins where the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe converge. It spans an area of approximately 287 132 square kilometres and will include 36 national parks, game reserves, community conservancies and game management areas. KAZA was initiated on the 7th December 2006 by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the 5 countries.

Sustainable conservation is the core of the dream that man and animals can live together and that tourist dollars would assist in the upliftment of local rural communities. Unfortunately Zimbabwe’s politics and instability are a cause for concern and delay. Problems currently being addressed are border crossings, expensive visa and high vehicle taxes imposed on non Southern African residents. The dream, however, is underway with a far bigger dream to follow - imagine a trans-frontier park spanning right across Africa incorporating the above trans-frontier parks and untimately inking with the Etosha pan and the skeleton coast of Namibia - a wildlife dream that could one day materialize.

"In a world beset by conflicts and division, peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace parks are a building block in this process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world.”Nelson Mandela

Resources:
Peace Parks Foundation:Peace Parks Foundation is a non-profit organisation that facilitates the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas (peace parks)* and develops human resources, thereby supporting sustainable economic development, the conservation of biodiversity and regional peace and stability.

Boundless Southern Africa : Launched at the 2008 Tourism Indaba in Durban, Boundless Southern Africa is the marketing brand chosen by nine Southern African countries to represent some of the best tourism products the region has to offer: the Transfrontier Conservation Areas

(TFCAs).

SANParks: Southern African national Parks