Now the Olympics are over I'm sure we'll miss the personal stories. Inspiring stories of passion, determination, teamwork, commitment and dreams. These stories don't begin and end at the Olympics, these stories are happening everywhere, everyday and I want to share an extraordinary one with you now - this one has an added trunkful of hope, possibility and survival as #500Elephants are on the move in Malawi.
Africa Parks in collaboration with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife is undertaking one of the largest elephant translocations in human history. Up to 500 elephants will be moved over this year and next from Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve, to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. All three parks are managed by African Parks, who is responsible for the protection of 90% of Malawi's elephants.
The 500 elephants are moving as African Parks is building a 16,000 ha sanctuary in Nkhotakota for the elephants and other reintroduced game species. This is an extremely hopeful story for conservation, elephants, Malawi and the people involved. It will relieve two parks of human-elephant conflict situations and better protect their habitats while simultaneously restoring wildlife to a park that has been depleted due to poaching. The new arrivals to Nkhotakota will help with tourism, park development and local employment whilst fueling a conservation led economy.
Whilst I'm loving the image of a line of 500 elephants, trunk holding the tail in-front, walking the 500km journey to their new home - its actually a lot more complicated than that and has taken the efforts of many experts to ensure this specialised operation is a success. Here is how you move 500 elephants:
- Elephants will be darted by helicopter
- Retrieved from the field by crane and recovery trucks
- Awoken in purpose-built 'wake-up' crates (wish I could have one of them in the mornings)
- Loaded on to 30-ton low-bed trucks for their journey
- On arrival, the elephants are released into a holding facility with food and water
- Following a period of 12-24 hours they will be released in to the wilds of the larger sanctuary to roam freely, roll in the mud, stay safe....and multiply!
If you want to follow their progress and share your support find out more at www.500elephants.org.
You can download banners for facebook & twitter, hashtag your posts with #500Elephants & #KeepItMoving or make a donation towards this epic house move. I'm sure I can hear 500 rumbles and trumpets to that!
