Friday 19 June 2009

elephants moving out.

different experience. these are digi photos that i've shot just for you all. one's to be processed at home will be mad!

very early start. 3am. got there at 6am. urgh.


so we got there. met all the IFAW crew and some guys from National Geographic. I was very unprofesh and took a chance to kip in the car. tut tut. anyway, theres a helicopter zooming around trying to separate the herd (approx. 65 wild elephants) and when successful they shot them with elephant tranquiliser from the sky.

so suddendly we're moving and voila!
snoozy snoozy.

some of the elephants were too big for their doses of tranquillisers and tried to get up. when this happened this was the answer:
clever clogs me touched one of the tranquilliser darts and was told i could be dead within two minutes. my hand went a bit numb, which was nice.

anyway, so they were all successfully loaded on to trucks and driven to the big tanks they were being transported in.


all of them were well looked after.


then when in the big tank they were given the antidote to their tranquillisers and:

wakey wakey elephants. they pee'd loads when they woke up.

when all 9 were loaded, off they went.

so the news of this all happening obvs spread like wild fire which resulted in people from various villages RUNNING to see them. they were more impressed by the helicopter. seriously, thousands of people RUNNING down the one tarmac road to see. babies running and all. amazing.


the elephants should be happy in their new home in the south of Malawi now, which I reckon is about 4 hours drive from where they were. This is in a national park where they will be far away from civilisation meaning that they wont kill any more people by accident, or get in trouble with any more farmers for ruining all of their crops.

thanks to IFAW for making this happen and letting me take photos. and the national geographic guys for also being cas about it.

besos

p.s. permission required use of any photographs. tho really if you want any they will be the film ones so hang in.