This is a lovely story from the wonderful Luangwa valley in Zambia. A brilliant place to see ellies and especially good for leopard sightings too.!

Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust
Registered as a charitable trust with the Registrar of Companies, Lusaka, Zambia, Reg. No. 41317

Tafika, the Orphaned Elephant 30th August 2009
On 19th August we took into our care an orphaned baby elephant. He had fallen into a pit in a village 40 miles away and was unable to get out. He was all alone, with no sign of any other elephants nearby. A rescue team from the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), led by Rachel McRobb, was able to pull him to safety and with the permission from the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) They brought him to Chipembele in the back of a Land Cruiser pick-up. He was named Tafika, after a nearby tourist lodge that reported his predicament, and is about one year old. Tafika means ‘to arrive’ in the local language.

Fortunately we had just completed constructing a new secure elephant boma. After a first traumatic night, during which he cried out almost continually, he settled down. The Kafue Elephant Orphanage (sponsored by the David Shepherd Conservation Foundation in the UK) was immediately contacted…they are rearing Chamilandu and Chudoba, two orphaned elephants who were rescued in South Luangwa in 2007 and who stayed at Chipembele for a month each before being transferred to the Kafue
Orphanage. They are both doing very well.

A KEO elephant specialist, Rachel Murton, and an experienced Zambian elephant keeper, Gift, arrived here within 24 hours to help advise us and set up a feeding and care system. Two additional keepers and a full time SLCS scout were also engaged. There is at least one keeper by Tafika’s side 24 hours a day… coming from a tight knit family he can never be left alone, even through the night. Rachel left after a few days… thanks for all your wonderful help and advice Rach!... but left Gift behind to manage Tafika’s care. When he is moved to Kafue, at least he will know Gift.

Tafika is now doing just fine and has bonded to his new keepers. He has adapted incredibly well to his new surroundings, despite the trauma of somehow losing his mother. He has just started daily walks and loves to play in a nearby water pool. With ZAWA’s approval we are planning to move him to the Kafue Oprhanage within the next month or so. It is a 30-hour road journey, which would be too stressful for such a young elephant, so he has to be flown via a charter flight.

As you may well imagine, caring for Tafika is hugely expensive. In addition to the milk (now 18 litres a day), mineral supplements, vegetables from the market etc. there are keeper and scout wages and money for food rations/equipment that have to be found. We also urgently need to raise the funds to make his flight possible. He needs to be with other elephants soon… in fact his future welfare depends on it.

Tafika loves to rub in the sand after his bath
Any donation to help with this very special project, no matter how small, would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Anna and Steve for ways in which you can make a payment to Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust. 100% of your donation will go directly on caring for Tafika. Thank you!
With all our very best wishes,
e-mail: info@chipembele.org
http://www.chipmebele.org/

Sitting in a traffic jam on the way to Norfolk this weekend I was pondering why go to Africa?

To see animals in the wild is the obvious answer and yet once there and you have had the first initial thrill of seeing your first lion or herd of elephants there is more. On an African safari you will have time to appreciate the diversity of the planet and begin to take pleasure in the smaller things as well as those big open spaces. Hectic lives in Europe mean we often do not have time to relate to the environment and see landscapes without buildings and the trappings of the western world.

Empty, wild beaches too are such a pleasure both by the sea and along inland lakes such as Lake Malawi and Tanganyika. I have been to quite a few stretches of beach where you can walk without seeing anyone for an hour.

Meeting friendly people without attitude is another reason. One would be forgiven for thinking that with all the problems we read about in Africa there would be gloomy people. Amazingly, Africans don’t do hopelessness. There is a wonderful indomitable spirit and it can rub off.

Tswalu

Had a very good lunch at Scott’s on Saturday, outside in the sunshine with my friend David Lamb. He told me he is having a complete career change and is off to be the MD of Tswalu. This is the largest private game reserve in South Africa covering some 100,000 Hectares. Far far bigger than the entire Sabi Sands private game reserve area in the Kruger which is at 65,000 Hectares.

I was lucky enough to go there a couple of years back and it is the nearest thing you can get to “wild “ Africa in South Africa. You get there on the De Beers private plane either from Johannesburg or Cape Town and there are no other tourists to be seen. It is semi arid bush in the Kalahari. Awesome landscapes and so much to do: walking, meerkat interaction, riding, star-gazing, birds, San rock engravings. Oh yes and the big animals too except for Ellies. Tswalu is also a huge conservation project and the family’s passion.

There is currently a stay 4 nights, pay 3 deal at present. Just in case you are interested?

This is not a picture of some strange folly built by an early colonial in tropical Africa, although some of them did build some fairly extraordinary places in the middle of nowhere, but a shot of a French 19th century chateau that I have just been staying in with my family. The tenuous link with Africa is that my nephews put on a series of sketches as a finale to the holiday, one of which was all about going on holiday with my company Theobald Barber. It was a slight piss take on the exclusive nature of my trips but very amusing and of course it is always good to get a mention in one of the sketches. I have taken four out of five of the nephews on safari and they had rightly remembered some of the important aspects.

Actually this small ish chateau had a wonderful Park like garden as the French call them; with huge, mature trees that provided masses of shade in the rather hot Lauragais area of South West France. It had a rather Chekhov atmosphere which rather grew on us all. The owners rent it out although I think they may sell it soon.

I had dinner with Fuzz Dyer and Ross Withey last night at one of my favourite London restaurants, Champor-Champor near London Bridge. ttp://www.champor-champor.com/

I thought the spicy and very aesthetic Malaysian food might appeal to these Kenyan bods and it did. These guys come from 4th generation Kenyan families and own places like Manda Bay on Lamu and Samatian Island on Lake Baringo in the Rift valley and Borana lodge in Laikipia. It reminded me of how well you get looked after by these owner-managers when you visit their places. Fuzz told me that Ross stood up for a young lady on the tube on their way to the restaurant which you don’t see happen ( shame - faced to say) too often these days. There is something about the way many Kenyans are brought up to host people who are staying with their families. They seem to be just very good at giving guests a great time and making them feel

part of the scene.

Above a couple of pics showing the view from Samatian island and one of those great vistas taken from a sundowner spot on Borana ( from my first visit there in the mid 1990’s)

First visit to Africa 1986

Someone said that as I have been travelling to sub Saharan Africa for well over twenty years and organize amazing safaris as well as holidays to off the beaten track beach places I should start a blog. Maybe I should start at the beginning:

I went to Africa for the first time in 1986.

About forty of us who had gone out to Kenya for a wedding ended up on a real “out of Africa” style safari in the Chyulu hills which is a couple of hours drive north of Amboseli National Park and a six hour drive or plane-ride south of Nairobi.

On the way into the camp we kept pace with lolloping giraffes. My first wild animals.

On Christmas night we were served a full scale Christmas dinner with all the trimmings in the middle of nowhere. We slept under canvas and it was simple but authentic. The next day I seemed to be in rather a happy mood.

Some of us took land rovers and climbed much higher into this range of green hills. We stopped after an hour or so of climbing and a massive panorama lay before us. Layered hills to plains below and the mighty Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Before leaving for Kenya I was rather nervous about bugs, dirt and generally unsure. After that safari I was hooked and I had got another sort of bug. A wonderful yearning to be in the bush. Well over twenty years later I keep going back and visit various countries south of the Sahara a few times a year.

1n 1992 my close friend Kate Theobald set up a small safari company which I took over the day to day running of a few years later.

I have stayed small and nearly all our clients come from referrals. So I take a very keen interest in making sure my clients have a good time on holiday. Because if they don’t they may not refer us to family, friends and colleagues!

http://www.theobaldbarber.com/