Elephants of Botswana

Category: Fund Raising, Travel | Date: Jan 29 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Thanks to fellow blogger Shivani Bhalla (who I meet on my trip to Kenya), I now know how  to upload video’s- so here is my 1st attempt. This was a video shot of our 1st sporting fundraising trip, Sim (my partner) and I cycled across part of England, mostly off road. We managed to raise enough to buy a new digital camera.

If this inspires you to do a fund raising event, then get in touch on kate@elephantresearch.co.uk or through our website www.elephantresearch.co.uk

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Category: Travel | Date: Jan 11 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

On the 3rd January it was time for me to get back to work, having had a wonderful time getting some R&R in Tanzania following our charity trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. We (my partner Sim was with me) got the shuttle up from Moshi early in the morning. The journey should take 7-8 hours, but it was not until 10 hours later that we were dropped off in the middle of Nairobi. The road from Arusha to Nairobi is pretty much non-tarmac all the way and they are in a hell of a state. I managed to sleep most of the way, as I am prone to do on long car/bus journeys, but poor Sim got to witness the risks that our shuttle driver and every other driver took on the roads. Thankfully we made it in one piece and then had to get a taxi to my friends house - which is another story for another time.

We arrived in time for sundowners with Lucy and it was a huge relief to be out of a vehicle and on solid ground. Lucy is doing her PhD on the elephants up at Save The Elephants base camp up in Samburu Game Reserve in the north of Kenya, and so on the Monday, after Sim left on the Sunday we travelled up to Samburu.

Lucy is working on conflict issues with crop raiding elephants and I have been able to go out with her to the communities she works with and see her work. She works with the Tukana Tribe and after we had checked her experiment, looking at an bees as a means of keeping elephants out, we were invited to  see an Orphanage School that they had set up and we were welcomed with singing and dancing - it was quite incredible. My work focuses on a wild population, so seeing this aspect of elephant research was very interesting, it was also great to see the community work which is something we, through the charity Elephants For Africa, will be doing in the future.

I came up to Save The Elephants to learn from Iain Douglas-Hamilton and his work, and I am certainly doing that. We scientist should meet up more often to exchange ideas and learn from each other and I hope that this is  the start of many exchanges in the future.

Tags: Conflict, crop raiding, elephants, Save the Elephants, Tukana

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 07 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

On the Charities’ 1st birthday, 28th December 2008, Simon Buckingham, Rebecca Smith and I stood on top of the highest mountain in Africa and the world’s largest free standing mountain in the world and breathed deeply. We had made it and it was an incredible feeling, none of us had expected it to be so emotional but we all got a little chocked up taking in the view from the roof of Africa. It was a spectacular view, taking in Mt Meru in the distance, the peak Mwenzi and the remains of the glacier that once covered this mountain. Special thanks must go to the Guides and Porters of Marangu Hotel (www.maranguhotel.com ) who where professional throughout and ensured that we made it safely and made it an enjoyable experience. We saw many people that were having less fun and some turned back before summiting, we also someone being evacuated from the summit, not a quick helicopter trip but being run down in a wheelbarrow/stretcher. We do not know if they made it! The mountain treated us well with good weather but we knew all too well that she can be cruel to those that do not respect her. We had lots of respect and listening to our guides went Pole Pole (slowly slowly) giving our bodies time to acclimatise and listening to what it was telling us. For me the hardest part was the final summit day, we went to bed at 7pm and were up at 10pm for an 11pm start. It was not until 1115pm that we started after final adjustments, and then it was a slow plod onwards and upwards. Most of the groups started after us and over took us, this did not bother us, we knew that to go slowly was the way, and indeed many of those who over took us came down before summiting, being run down by guides to make it down asap and stop the advances of Pulmonary Oedema or Cerebral Oedema.

We were joined by a group of Americans, complete strangers at first but after 6 days on a mountain telling tales and sharing the wonderful experience we left firm friends. We would like to thank them for their support and encouragement on the mountain.

My personal thanks go to my friend and fellow zoologist, Rebecca Smith, who agreed to join us and raised so much money for us.  She overcame altitude sickness to make it all the way to the top. Congratulations Becs and many thanks.

Thanks to all those who have already dug deep into their pockets, particularly during these hard economic times. You can still support us, simply visit www.justgiving.com/elephantkate. For other donations methods get in touch on            elephantresearch@yahoo.co.uk. We all paid our own way for this venture so ALL PROFITS go to the charity.

Best wishes

Dr Kate Evans

Tags: chairty fundraiser, elephants, Kilimanjaro

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