We’re offering the opportunity to you to buy tickets online now for $20 each or 3 for $50.  A maximum of 500 tickets will be sold and the draw will be at the ‘Imagine Africa’ dinner on 22nd February.  Just click here to go to our payment page where you can pay securely using paypal.  For other payment methods, contact Tammie at animalworksaustralia@gmail.com

This amazing prize includes:

1 night The Peermont Metcourt at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

2 nights Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

3 nights Davisons Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Includes:

• 1 x twin share room in properties as specified (or similar)
• Return airport transfers in Johannesburg and Victoria Falls
• Return road transfers Victoria Falls/Hwange National Park / Victoria Falls
• Breakfast only in Johannesburg and Victoria Falls
• All meals in Hwange NP
• All scheduled game viewing activities in Hwange NP

Excludes:

• ALL International and regional flights and all applicable departure taxes
• Visas – currently US$50 per person for Australian passport holders to enter Zimbabwe
• Comprehensive Travel Insurance – mandatory requirement
• All meals other than specified
• All drinks
• All items of a personal nature
• Departure tax from Zimbabwe
• Any optional touring
• Any item not specified

Blackout dates will apply (high season, Christmas, Easter and school holidays) and travel must be undertaken prior to 31 December 2012.  Maximum of 2 people sharing one room.  Minimum age 12 years (could be negotiated).

To those of you who managed to get tickets to the ‘Imagine Africa’ dinner on 22nd February, there will also be an exclusive raffle on the night for one of Nafisa’s magnificent African elephant artworks.  Tickets for the art raffle will be $10 each and only 100 will be sold.

If you missed out on the first ‘Imagine Africa’ dinner with African authors Tony Park, Peter Allison, Sally Henderson and Tammie Matson, never fear, you can come to the next one on 18th April!  Tony Park and Tammie Matson will be there, as well as 7-time African novelist, Frank Coates and co-author of “A Lion Called Christian”, Ace Bourke.  Book quickly to get your tickets as fantastic prizes are again going to be on offer for the second night, most of them exclusive to those who come!  Tickets can be bought by phoning Ripples on 02 99603000.  Don’t forget, it’s all for a good cause – anti-poaching in Zimbabwe.  $50 from your $95 ticket for a 3 course meal and wine goes to Animal Works’ Zimbabwean conservation fund.

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Join Animal Works for a night of African stories and dinner at Ripples, Chowder Bay, with more of your favourite African authors under one roof! Authors on this night include:

TONY PARK

 Australia’s very own Wilbur Smith, author of 8 African novels, now published in the UK

ACE BOURKE

 Co-author of “A Lion Called Christian” and star of the famous youtube video

FRANK COATES

Author of 7 African novels, including “Tears of the Maasai” & “Softly Calls the Serengeti”

TAMMIE MATSON

Author of “Elephant Dance” and “Dry Water”, adventures of a wildlife conservationist

 Dinner tickets are $95 ($50 goes to Animal Works’ Zimbabwean wildlife conservation fund to help fight poaching and include sparkling wine on arrival, red and white wine with entree and dinner.  Join us for drinks at 6.30pm at the bar and dinner begins at 7pm. Contact Ripples (Deck C, Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman) to buy tickets on 99603000.  For more information contact Tammie at tammiekmatson@gmail.com .

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“Two years ago I attended an Elephant Extravaganza fundraiser organised by a group called Animal Works. Tammie and Nafisa introduced me to the world of human elephant conflict and showed photos of little orphaned elephants. That’s how I became involved and how our adoption program was born. After two years of running this, the next step for me was to visit the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Assam.  In early January I flew from from Delhi to Guwahati and after a 5 hour drive amid the swarms of trucks, cars, bikes, dogs, goats, and cows – I arrived.

The first thing to do, of course, was meet the current orphans. But I heard them long before I met them. Rani Deepor is LOUD when she is hungry and her trumpets usually set off little Lily Nunai and Philip-Dev. As soon as milk arrives there is complete silence although a few inquisitive trunks inched towards me. The three young calves spend their days in the fields and their nights in the stable for mega herbivores which also houses a rhino calf in an adjoining cubicle. Philip-Dev looks amazing and only has a few scars left from his ordeal where he lost his mother and little Lily Nunai follows her keeper Bhinni everywhere. The older calves are housed in the field overnight and although Tora (pronounced Tara in Assamese) is always at milk feeds with her trunk up and ready to tuck in, she is being weaned and eating sufficient grass.

Dihing is by far the most mischievous calf and has the electric fence surrounding the paddock completely sussed. He first tests to see if there is a current with his toenails and if he feels nothing he tries the sole of his foot. Then it’s a quick couple of stamps on the wires to bring the strands of fencing down and he’s through.  Not that he actually goes anywhere once he’s out – he just stands on the other side waiting for the keepers! One night he broke out and Junmoni took charge, leading both him and Tora to the front of the compound where they had a small party, trampling on pot plants and decimating a banana tree.

Bath times are a highlight for the orphans and Tora is a complete water baby. In fact the keepers have as hard a time getting her out of the water as they do getting Philip-Dev in. He just hates it and will simply run through the water, out the other side and away from the keepers.

Asian elephant calves are hairy!! Philip-Dev has a head-full and Junmoni  has a little beard. Dihing is developing tusks which look really cute and Tora follows him everywhere, as Rani does with Philip. There are 2 distinct groups – Lily Nunai, Rani Deepor and Philip Dev in one and Junmoni, Dihing and Tora in the other. The sub-adult calf from Jaklabandha, Chandi Bandha, spends most of her time alone although she occasionally hangs out with the older orphans. There was some hope that she would mother the smaller calves but she is obviously just not the maternal type.

Anyone reading our blogs could be excused for thinking the CWRC is just about elephants, but far from it. Residents during my visit included 3 leopards, a tiger cub, a litter of jungle cats, a water buffalo calf, storks, a hornbill, a gibbon and 4 rhinos – 2 of whom are set to be released in Manas in February.

The baby gibbon was admitted to the CWRC after his mother touched a live wire and electrocuted herself – he will be released back to the same area once he is old enough. The tiger cub was found alone with no signs of the mother nearby. She was very weak upon arrival and had lost a lot of hair due to malnutrition. One night the keepers were sure she would not make it and sat up with her the whole night expecting her to go. However she has a feisty spirit and pulled through despite being underweight and small for her age. Her hair is now growing back and she is eating chicken and beef.

Male Leopard

Big cat rehabilitation is a questionable venture. Once they have been hand raised they are unfortunately destined to a life of captivity. Being solitary animals the leopards cannot be housed together and there is only one large enclosure so the remaining two leopards are enclosed in smaller cages.  Despite the keepers providing behavioural enrichment, a female was pacing her enclosure whilst I was there – atypical behaviour – so it was decided to change her environment. This involved sedating her and taking her to the larger enclosure and moving the current resident out.  He has been with the CWRC for almost 10 years and there is simply nowhere for him to go. India has no leopard sanctuaries and even the zoos do not want leopards. To raise funds towards a larger carnivore enclosure we have added the young male to our adoption program. Please click here if you are able to help. All donations are now tax deductible in Australia.

No trip to Assam would be complete without visiting the elephants release site at Doimari Camp in Manas National Park. It really is a stunningly beautiful area and I can think of nowhere nicer to be returned to a life in the wild. I was lucky enough to join the trackers looking for Soni on my last day. After a couple of hours they obtained some strong signals on the Indian side of the Mathanguri border with Bhutan. Being a foreigner I was not allowed out of the jeep but the trackers came back with good news, they had not only sighted Soni and Tinku but also Sikom. Our driver had an exciting encounter in December when he sighted Hamren – TWICE!  Both times he was with a herd of 15 other elephants. There still has been no sightings of Tikla and although he had lost condition on last sighting it is quite normal as the calves take awhile to adjust to their new surrounds.

Besides having such a rewarding and enriching time this trip really made me aware of just how much ongoing donations to this project are so vital. The younger calves can guzzle 5 litres of milk in under 2 minutes flat and need up to 9 milk feeds a day. They also need veterinary care, the stables need daily cleaning and sterilisation, the milk bottles need sterilisation after each feed , they all need vitamin and mineral supplements and of course food. And that’s only the elephants! There’s also keepers at the centre 24/7 and a operational mobile veterinary service.

The Wildlife Trust of India, celebrating 10 years of operation in August this year, have so far released 13 orphans into Manas National Park. Without them these elephants would now be in captivity. An opportunity of a life in the wild is a rare gift that we can provide.

Manas National Park was the scene of heavy poaching during a local insurgency a decade ago and the wildlife here was all but wiped out. The rhino population actually was wiped out. By sponsoring  a elephant calf you are not only giving an elephant a future but also restoring the glory of an amazing National Park.

I’d like to thank Devna Arora, Dr Abhijit Bhawal, Dr Bhaskar Choudhury and Kelly and Zac for helping make this such an amazing trip.”

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Our authors on the night include the ever eloquent and rugged Tony Park, who’s on his way back from writing his latest book in South Africa shortly.  Tony’s now published 8 novels on Africa and is well established as Australia’s Wilbur Smith.  Read what he has to say about Animal Works and this cause in his latest blog here. 

Then there’s the hilarious Peter Allison who wrote “Whatever you do, don’t run” amongst his other books about his fascinating adventures as a safari guide.

There’s Sally Henderson who wrote the best selling “Silent Footsteps”, an intimate story about her long held love affair with Africa and elephants.

And Animal Works’ co-founder and co-director, Tammie Matson, author of “Elephant Dance”, about her conservation work on human-elephant conflict.

Tickets for dinner are $95, including sparkles on arrival, and wine with entree and dinner, of which $50 goes to Animal Works’ Zimbabwean conservation fund.  Book now at Ripples on 02 99603000 or contact Tammie at Animal Works for more information at tammiekmatson@gmail.com .  Drinks from 6.30pm and dinner from 7pm.  Ripples Chowder Bay is at Deck C, Chowder Bay Road, Mosman.

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View from Turgwe Camp

In 2012, Animal Works  is working with Barefoot in Africa  in a unique partnership that is giving you the chance to not only go on an amazing safari to one of our favourite parts of Africa – Zimbabwe – but also to give back a little by contributing to our conservation projects while you’re there.  Barefoot in Africa is donating several thousand dollars per safari to Animal Works’ Zimbabwean fund, so these safaris directly benefit local people and wildlife.

Imagine this….  You make your way to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and from there you are transported to Humani in the Save Valley Conservancy.  Over the next few days, while based at the superb Turgwe Camp on the river of the same name, you’ll experience “the real deal” Africa – not just the wildlife (this is Big Five country), but you’ll also get to know the locals who call the place home.

Zebra at Hwange

This safari is unlike any other in that you have the opportunity to “give back” while you’re there.  You can go on anti-poaching patrols to remove snares from the bush and physically help with building/painting projects at the Humani Primary School.   You’ll also spend some time with Karen Paolillo at Hippo Haven, one of the few places in Africa that you can sit comfortably beside wild hippos and watch their natural behaviour.  Turgwe Camp isn’t the poshest camp you’re ever likely to stay in, but it’s extremely comfortable and the chalets overlook the river, which at sunset often hosts an elephant or two, or some of the local waterbuck and bushbuck.  The night sounds there are incredible – owls, frogs, hyaenas, you name it.

Victoria Falls

From there, you fly to Hwange National Park, which in my view has some of the best game viewing you’re ever likely to see.  It’s renowned for it’s large herds of elephants.  In the words of Peter Allison recently (of “Whatever You Do, Don’t Run” fame), “I stopped counting at a thousand”.  You’ll be looked after in Hwange at Davisons Camp, a classic tented safari camp in one of the best game viewing areas in the park.  Bear in mind that when I say tent I mean something the size of a two bedroom flat in Sydney….  This aint camping.  You’ll go on daily game drives or walks and just absorb being in nature at its finest.

Turgwe camp chalet

And to top off this safari, you’ll drive up through the park to the incredible Victoria Falls, which, if you haven’t seen it, really is a once in a lifetime, not to be missed opportunity.  Here sunset boat rides with a nice vino while watching the hippos and the crocs are the order of the day.

Your guide on this safari is Michael Jeh of Barefoot in Africa safaris.  He’s a Brisbanite with a serious passion for Africa who has been leading safaris in Africa for several years.  He’s also a certified game ranger, which helps if you’re in the bush and a rhino’s charging at you!  Barefoot in Africa, in partnership with Animal Works, will be running  a few safaris this year, including one starting 1st June and the other on 27th June, both for 10 days.  Animal Works co-founder Dr Tammie Matson will be joining the Humani leg of the first one on 1st June.  Places are limited to just 10 people per trip.  So get your place while you can by dropping me us a line at animalworksaustralia@gmail.com .

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Tammie photographing rhino

“There was a fleeting moment of awareness, when our jeep first entered the jungle in Manas National Park in the north-east state of Assam, India, that made me gasp with pure contentment.  It had been a while since I’d felt it, that fine-tuning of the senses that happens when you’re in the bush.  I felt goosebumps prickle my arms as I looked up at the canopy of dense, old trees, their thick foliage hugging both sides of the dirt track.  It hit me – not for the first time in my life – that truly wild parts of nature can make your eyes sparkle and your heart soar in a way that few other things can.  There’s something about being in the presence of trees that have been around for hundreds of years and feeling a part of something bigger than yourself that I’ve realised is essential to my existence.  I didn’t need to see a tiger – although I wouldn’t have complained if we did – to appreciate the majesty of this place, a world heritage site at the foothills of the Himalayas.  But we did see enough wildlife to really get the blood pumping, including a rather close encounter with a young Indian rhino, one of just 10 left in the park (see above).

Later in the trip, when Nafisa and I met up with Assam’s famously first and only female mahout, and a true lover of elephants, Parbati Barua, she said to us, “Don’t interview me in the city.  Next time we meet in the jungle.  That is where I am alive.”  And I thought to myself, how fortunate folks like us are to be able to work in the wild, when so little of it is left in places like this, to know what is out there, and to appreciate it when we’re back in the big smoke.  I’m going to try and hold onto that feeling as we all plunge into the commercial madness and road rage of Christmas…  I’m really glad that places like Manas National Park still exist.

My co-founder of Animal Works, artist Nafisa Naomi and I were in Assam to track down some of the orphaned elephants that Animal Works‘ supporters have helped rehabilitate at the Wildlife Trust of India’s CWRC and return to the wild in Manas National Park in February this year.  Animal Works is a small organisation, and we’re staying small – one of the advantages of this is that we stay connected to what’s going on in the field, which was the point of this trip, to confirm that your donations were resulting in real conservation outcomes (and of course, a thinly veiled opportunity to get back to the wild, where both Nafisa and I draw the inspiration for our creative work).

Just for a change, I’m not going to TELL you what happened when we got there.  I’m going to show you.  Because for the first time I’ve managed to teach myself how to film and edit video content, and the result of this is a 6 minute youtube video of our adventure in Assam.

Check out the video here .

Thanks for all your support in 2011, and stay tuned in the new year for some new projects from Animal Works, including the opportunity to join us on safari in Zimbabwe.  As always, we really appreciate all your donations, elephant sponsorships (click here to give one for Christmas!) and kind words – because we’re small and don’t pay salaries, you know that almost everything goes straight to the wildlife.   Happy festive season everyone!

Coming soon – Nafisa’s blog from her visit to the CWRC!

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The calves had been staying near camp for the first few weeks of October but gradually moved further afield. They did venture close to some of the forest camps on several occasions but were scared away by firecrackers and noise which is a general procedure to keep them away from human dwellings. Fortunately they were not too close and have since kept their distance.

Sikom has been sighted a couple of times and is faring well. There is some concern over Tikla who hasn’t been sighted at all and was not in great condition the last time he was seen. He doesn’t have a radio collar which makes it impossible for the team to locate him. 

At the CWRC, Junmoni, Tora and Dihing are all in excellent health and have started going on small walks in the Panbari Reserve Forest. There is a small stream close to the CWRC and they enjoy playing there and having a splash! Before they are allowed out the area is checked for wild elephant herds or any other perceivable dangers. They are still only toddlers and the team needs to look out for them.

Philip Dev is coming along in leaps and bounds. He had a tummy upset in October which was a suspected viral infection, but it didn’t bother him too much and he quickly recovered after a course of antibiotics. He is still housed with the calf admitted to the CWRC in September and the two get along like a house on fire!

It has been decided that all the calves will now have two names – the second name will relate to the area in which they were found. Philip-Dev’s playmate and new best-friend has been called Rani Deepor. After being left behind by her herd Rani Deepor was found stuck in mud in Deepor Beel, Guwahati, which must have been quite frightening for the little calf.  Once freed from the mud she was taken to Guwahati Zoo and cared for there for 10 days before being transferred to the CWRC.  Rani Deepor’s profile is now up on our orphans page and you can sponsor her here.

The sub-adult female from Jaklabandha has been named Chandi Bandha and unfortunately has had a rough few weeks. Although she was de-wormed in September she was extremely weak in October due to internal parasites. Chandi Bandha was then diagnosed with a severe load of Cobboldia – a parasitic fly whose adults lay eggs near the base of the mouth or trunks of elephants. The larvae of this fly travel through the veins and reach the naval cavity of the elephant. Fortunately, after being de-wormed repeatedly, the infection is now under control. The little calf has meanwhile been quarantined.  She is stable but her health is only just starting to pick up.  Obviously this has caused a major setback in the plans for her release.  Once well enough Chandi Bandha will be moved into the open enclosure with Junmoni, Tora and Dihing.

Finally another new calf was admitted to the centre in the first week of October. She has been named Lily Nunai.  She was pulled out of a dried riverbed in Udalguri by the frontline staff of SSB.  She must have fallen and been unable to free herself as the terrain here is very rough. Her herd had left the area earlier that morning and couldn’t be found. As the young calf had sustained severe injuries and lacerations, attempts at reuniting her weren’t pursued. Lily Nunai has been at the CWRC for over a month now and has been through a couple of minor surgeries due to the severe injuries she sustained during the fall. In fact, surgeons from the Veterinary College (Surgery Dept) of Khanapara were called for a second opinion and to assist the surgery. Although she is recovering well her injuries will take some time to heal. Luckily Lily Nunai is in the best possible place for this to happen.

Animal Works co-founders Nafisa Naomi and Dr Tammie Matson are off to visit these projects and others in Assam tomorrow, and will be back with more news soon.

All images copyright of Sashanka WTI

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Ashok suffered with a terrible bout of diarrhea in mid September, which resulted in him being quite dehydrated and he was put on saline and antibiotics for a few days. Although he responded well to this treatment he continued to be very weak and was kept on electrolytes to help restore balance in his body. The vets suspected a viral infection and kept him in isolation for 9 days.  He then started to feed well but his sucking reflex still remained much slower than that of the other calves and it took him twice as long to feed.

Ashok also had an abscess to the right of his temporal region which was drained in the third week of September. Unfortunately a second abscess then sprang up on his left temporal region.

Ashok succumbed to his ill health on the 4^th October. The primary cause of death was diagnosed as septicemia. Although he did not spend long at the CWRC he will be missed by all – perhaps mostly by Philip-Dev who had fast become his playmate and friend.

On a brighter note Junmoni, Tora and Dihing are all doing well. The calf from Jaklabandha who was also brought into the CWRC in August, is housed with them for the time being. There is still hope that she will be reunited with her herd or at least released back into the wild. Although the calves all try to approach her, she prefers to be left alone – just as Hamren did when he was at the CWRC. Her leg injury is healing well and she is very tolerant of the vets who look after her.

Philip Dev is very active and growing well. He is as naughty as ever and really behaves like a very pampered little calf. He is currently being housed with another new arrival, a female calf approximately 2-3 months old.  She was brought into the CWRC in September after being separated from her herd in Deepor Beel.  Although several attempts were made to reunite her with the herd, none was successful. Fortunately she appears quite healthy,  she is feeding well and has even started nibbling on grass.

Mid-September saw another case of a young elephant becoming stuck in a trench in Borsapori Tea Estate. An excavator was brought in to flatten the sides of the trench after which the young male managed to climb out and run back into the forest.

Don’t forget that if you’d like to help all these calves on their journey of rehabilitation for return to the wild you can adopt an elephant through Animal Works or enter our African elephant art competition.  Tickets cost $10 each and only 100 tickets will be sold.  And if you’d like an insight into one of Animal Works’ co-founder’s thoughts on both her and Nafisa Naomi’s upcoming trip to India to visit our projects, read Dr Tammie Matson’s latest blog here.

All photos copyright Sashanka Barbaruah or Asavari Sharma/ WTI

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Soni

In our last blog on the elephant calves in Manas National Park Sikom had disappeared and it was suspected he had integrated with a wild herd. Tinku and Tikla had then wandered off together leaving Soni alone. After she had wandered into a village the team brought her back to Doimari Camp where she remained alone.

Following this situation the team instigated a thorough search for the missing claves. Two kunki (captive trained) elephants were even used in the search efforts.

Both Sikom and Tinku’s radio collars had been signaling their position but only infrequently, due to the adverse weather conditions of July. Thankfully new data was received showing that Sikom had traveled north-west and was approximately 2 ½ km from camp. The team then sighted him near the Kalapani riverbed on the 5^thAugust.

The last satellite position received from Tinku’s collar showed that he had traveled much further afield and was 13km south west of camp. Then on 5^thAugust both Tinku and Tikla were sighted near the Thanganmara anti-poaching camp. With the help of the two kunki elephants the pair was located the next day.

Sikom, Tinku and Tikla were all brought back to Doimari camp on the 7^th August and were re-united with Soni who, no doubt, was very happy to see her old friends. The 4 remained together in the general vicinity of the camp until late August when they broke into two separate groups.  Soni and Tinku headed off in a south-east direction whilst Sikom and Tikla teamed up and moved north-west. Tikla was looking rather skinny and not particularly healthy however the 3 other calves seem to all be in good condition. On the 26^thSeptember a satellite signal was received from Sikom’s collar showing that he had traveled over a kilometre and had crossed in Bhutan! As yet we do not know if Tikla is still with him.

The big news is that on September 11^th  the forest patrol  staff at Latajhar anti- poaching camp sighted Hamren! Interestingly he was traveling alone. This is only the second sighting of Hamren since he left the rehabilitation site in February this year.

This month Animal Works is running a competition to win one of Nafisa’s unique elephant artworks framed, worth $1500.  It only costs $10 to enter and a maximum of 100 tickets will be sold, making your odds of winning very good.  All proceeds go to our elephant projects in India.  Get your tickets here.

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