Well, to quote Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, ‘O, what a night‘. At the start of the year we booked the Royal Geographical Society’s Map Room for October 8th, so we could do something special to celebrate our 15th Anniversary. We wanted to work with a charity, one that was at the forefront in the desperate fight for the survival of elephants.
We were delighted when Save the Elephants agreed to be our partner, and more so when Saba Douglas-Hamilton offered to be our guest speaker on the night. Our proposed 120 capacity in the Map Room changed to 700 in the lecture theatre.
We contacted our old clients as a priority, offering them first call on the seats, then contacted the databases of Real Africa and Save the Elephants. The tickets sold out in 3 days. We had a waiting list of over 300 and up to 20 phone calls a day asking for tickets despite the sold-out signs.
Yesterday afternoon we arrived at the RGS at 4pm to set up with our partners on the night Kenya Airways. At 5pm Saba and the Save the Elephants team arrived, so while Saba and I chatted with the technician who was to run the audio visuals, the rest of the teams got the place ready.
With 700 people to seat we’d drafted in ten 6th form Geography students from our local school in Norwich, giving them tickets and train fares to experience the night in exchange for their assistance with seating everybody. They were helped by the children of our staff and friends, ranging in age from 11-16 and overseen by one of our charity trustees. They were all magnificent.
By 7.10pm we were ready. Saba and I walked into the theatre and I climbed to the podium to introduce her. It was a very proud moment. To be standing on the stage of the RGS Ondaatje Theatre, speaking where so many extraordinary explorers, climbers and conservation legends had been before was humbling. To be representing my staff was an honour.
Saba’s talk was superb. Fluent, funny, informative, sobering, inspiring. She spoke for over an hour and at the end received a huge ovation. I presented her with a hand-made silver elephant pendant as a token of our thanks.
We adjourned to the Map Room where our guests could meet her, get signed postcards or a photo, buy t-shirts or a silver elephant and make donations. The room was packed, the atmosphere great.
By the end of the night we had raised nearly £10,000 for Save the Elephants, given them huge profile via the journalists who attended at the invitation of the Kenyan Tourist Board and I’m sure encouraged lots of people to travel to Elephant Watch Camp, Samburu, Kenya to see the work of Save The Elephants first-hand.
Thanks to everyone who came, to Sara and the staff for all their hard-work in organising it and of course to Saba for making it a night to remember.
Now, what should we do for our 16th…?
To make a donation and get a signed Saba postcard, click here.
For information about our Elephant Conservation Safaris which include a donation to Save The Elephants by Real Africa on behalf of every client, click here.
To request a Real Africa brochure, which includes Elephant Watch Camp and details of our partnership with Save The Elephants please click here.
Rob was in Tanzania a few weeks ago and travelled with Julian and Jenny, who are based in Arusha, to the Ngorongoro Highlands to visit a school near the foot of the Ngorongoro Crater. After a meeting with staff and the children, it was agreed that the Trust will support them with repairs to classrooms, blackboards and providing new books and writing materials.
The kids also requested new goalposts and netball nets – you can see in the video that the existing ones are made of logs and wire. We’ll get busy on this for them straight away. Jenny and her daughter Sasha got invited to play in a game of netball with the girls. Jenny claimed her height advantage was negated by the youth of her competitors. At least she joined in. Rob took one look at the size of the football pitch, and the steepness of the slope, and announced his retirement from all forms of the game.
We look forward to working with this lovely school and will be announcing full details over the next few weeks.
Kithaka, the spirited elephant orphan, who the Real Africa Trust adopted back in 2013, has now moved to Tsavo East for the next phase of his rehabilitation back to the wilds of Africa.
I first met Kithaka 2 years ago. The staff at the nursery warned me, “He’s very mischievous, ” and described him as a “handful” but I was smitten from the outset.
Kithaka was plucked from the Imenti Forest in November 2011 by the dedicated Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant rescue team after being found wandering alone and bewildered without his herd. With no happy reunion on the cards, due to the dense forest habitat, tiny Kithaka, just a week old, was transported to the nursery unit where he has been lovingly cared for ever since.
Kithaka is now a thriving 4 1/2 years old – he’s grown tusks, an even bigger and bolder attitude and remains firm friends with fellow elephant orphans, Lemoyian and Barsilinga, who have been at the nursery for a similar time wuth him.
At the end of May, the ‘three musketeers’ made a big journey – from the nursery in Nairobi to the Ithumba Unit in Kenya‘s Tsavo East where head keeper Benjamin was waiting for them. The Ithumba unit has three categories – dependant orphans who are still given around the clock care, partially dependent orphans, who still return regularly to the stockades and sometimes require supplementary milk and finally the ex-orphans who roam free in Tsavo East.
The ex-orphans may be entirely independent, but still remain extremely attached to their human family and visit regularly. This allows the team to keep an eye on them, ensuring they are healthy and safe. It also means that the orphans arriving from the nursery unit can enjoy interaction with their wild friends and their young, who have been born wild.
I thought you might like to watch this lovely short film about the re-location of Kithaka, Barsilinga and Lemoyian.