An Ending...

It is hard to believe that our time at Chipembele has come to an end. The finish was not a perfect '10'. 

The mammalian vertebrae are a marvel of natural selection, that human primates evolved to be bi-pedal and all the attendant adaption over geological time that this entailed is a luminous fact. That each vertebrae is cushioned and connected to the next and working in vertical unison sees us fit to walk, climb, sit, run and recline - all whilst still using our hands at the same time. Amazing! Yet if one or two vertebrae malfunction through stressors, pressure or injury one can only succumb to a state of pain and lameness. Unfortunately, Jude's lumbar spine has paid the price of bumpy roads, uneven ground and "Africa". A prolapsed disc, a conversion event that saw her hit the floor with some heavy duty pain and an aftermath of loss of feeling below the knee and ongoing pain at the prolapsed joint and nerve entrapment, as well as some nasty sciatic issues from a Sacroiliac joint entrapment has seen her have to leave Chipembele early, leave the planned month long Safari and return to Australia for treatment and rehabilitation.

Such is bi-pedal life.

How lucky are we that our Western World income, our insurance, our means – allows treatment and hope for recovery. Having just now worked in a community where the average woman would not see in a lifetime what we earn in wages in a month – who would be hard pressed to afford the malarial medication for her sick child… We are fortunate indeed to have a retreat to the “first” world medicine, treatment and help and the means to procure it.

Kaye is staying on in South Luangwa with Anna and Steve for  few more days and her lovely Mum, Evelyn is joining her on Monday 4^th July for her own “Trip of a Lifetime” at 76 years old – her long held desire to visit the beautiful continent that we have waxed lyrical about each time we have returned from our many journeys. Their imminent trip consists of: Six days in the South Luangwa to show her the wonders of the South Luangwa National Park – this beautiful, diverse and unique habitat full of wildlife – “Lions under every bush, leopards in every tree…” Well, almost! On to Livingstone to visit Mosi-ao-Tunya – The Smoke the Thunders (Vic Falls), across into Botswana to visit the Chobe National Park… Elephants! Elephants! Elephants! Into the Okavngo Delta to mokoro (canoe) across her serene waters. Also in the Okavango so Kaye can revisit and Evelyn meet for the first time Elephants - Jabu, Thembi and Morula the little herd headed by Douglas Groves from Living With Elephants. To Johannesburg to pick up a car and drive for a short 4 day stay in the South of the Kruger National Park, in the hope to seeing Rhino (if there are any left…). Then a week in the most beautiful city on earth… Cape Town.

Kaye and Evelyn’s travels have been arranged by Leanne Wild of the Africa Safari Co. If you are planning a trip to Africa we recommend Leanne’s expertise, good care and thorough knowledge of African safari travel.

So, being at Chipembele has been the most amazing experience – two months of bush living. Of thrilling and awe inspiring daily wildlife encounters. Of giraffe, lion, elephant, puku, impala, baboon, warthog, hippo. Of Bateleur and Fish eagle, vulture, bee-eaters, green whopoes, kingfishers, red waxbills, saddle or yellow billed storks. Of crocodile, lizards, geckos, snakes, scorpions. Of bush-babies, Betty baboon and scrub-hare! Wow! What and amazing parade of natural wonder outside our door every day… We will miss their natural shy company. Everyday was a wildlife wonder.

Living alongside and working with our friends Anna and Steve Tolan, Founders and Directors of Chipembele wildlife Education Trust has been such a privilege, These two amazing individuals are strong, committed, focused and above all do what they do for the love of the wild. The mission is in the best hands possible – and if you are yet to investigate their work please visit our website at:

‘What We Do’

Working with hundreds of children in the Conservation Clubs in preparation for the World Environment Day Event was a great challenge – we had never worked with children before and certainly not in a cross-cultural setting! It was an amazing experience. The hope for the future for the few remaining truly wild places on this finite earth of ours rests in the hands/hearts/minds of the children and young people. May they find the wherewithal in employment, their farming practices and lives to both sustain themselves and their natural heritage for its own sake, for their sake for their children’s sake. Chipembele gives children hope and wildlife a chance…

 Thank you to each one of the 250 children and young people and the Club Patrons from the 6 schools – Kawaza, Kakumbi, Chiwawtala, Mfuwe Basic and Mfuwe Secondary and Yosefe for your participation, energy and enthusiasm for the  World Environment Day Event. 

May your commitment to the stewardship of your beautiful land continue to grow.

Working with Rochelle James – The Chipembele Conservation outreach in Schools Manager and her friend Brooke Mundey over the weeks leading up to the Open Day and World Environment Day events was a joy. Rochelle so generously fitted us in an otherwise already hectic schedule of her teaching, club activities and her own personal Masters studies. To have a couple of Australian gals to share the work, the commitment and to see the job done was of great value. Thanks Rochelle and Brooke!

Meeting and working alongside Eunice Nakachinda – the Chipembele Administration Assistant – getting to know her, her easy and effervescent friendliness and support of us was a real joy! We look forward to working with Eunice on the newly formed Chipembele Girls Clubs activities from afar…Thank you Eunice, your warmth, hand in friendship and genuine engagement made our time there very special.

The final chapter of “Jude and Kaye’s Going for Good” is a little different from how we might have liked it, but we achieved what we set out to do. To Live Life Large, to celebrate the 10 years of solid achievements of Chipembele’s Conservation Education in the heart of the rural Zambian area adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park. To live up close and personal with the wonderful wildlife we love and above all to see survive and thrive in the South Luangwa.

Warm and weary waves from a Jude newly arrived after a 24 hour marathon flight schedule in her own home in chilly Semaphore. And from Kaye – ensconced still in our beautiful little Bushhouse on the banks of the Luangwa.

Thanks all for reading our blog along the way and sharing our adventures…

Jude and Kaye

XXX

PS: If you would like to be part of protecting and conserving the iconic wildlife of the South Luangwa a dedicated work of generational change – please visit our special (secure) ‘10 for 10’ Chipembele cheer squad page here and spread the love around…

http://www.justgiving.com/10-for-10-Cheer-Squad-2011

"Hands Up for Conservation!"

Greetings from Zambia,

We love sharing our tales of lions, elephants and beautiful Betty Baboon. Despite these very tangible reminders that we are in the heart of an African wilderness area, we have not lost sight of the reason we are here! We are in the South Luangwa to support and to volunteer assistance for Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust. Especially, to help celebrate their tenth anniversary of the opening of the Wildlife Education Centre. Education of the local children and young people in conservation and environmental stewardship is their main mission.

The South Luangwa is home to endemic populations of Cookson’s wildebeest, Thronicroft’s giraffe as well as elephant, lion, wild dog, leopard, golden baboon, puku and many other species and important biomes. The Luangwa River is one of the last great un-dammed rivers in all of Africa that still maintains it’s seasonal flows, providing diverse habitats for abundant wildlife. Human encroachment and the attendant human wildlife conflict is a major problem and Chipembele’s Mission is “to teach Zambian children the importance of their wildlife and environment so it may be conserved for present and future generations”.

Our primary purpose here is to organise two events – one, an Open Day at the Chipembele Centre on May 28^th, is well on its way. Invitations were sent a few months ago. The organisation of speakers, guests and the Senior Conservation Club quiz are well in hand.

The other event is a Community Event to celebrate both ten years of Chipembele’s conservation education and World Environment Day (WED). To this end we have been visiting the Conservation Clubs (Senior pupils) and Chongololo* Clubs (Primary pupils) at their schools with Rochelle James, the Chipembele Conservation Outreach in Schools Manager - to start talking to the children and young people about the upcoming WED event.

The theme and message for the Event is ‘Hands Up for Conservation!’.  We have visited three clubs so far and run 30 minute sessions to involve the Conservation and Chongololo Club members in early preparation for the event. 

A talk and Q&A session about World Environment Day and exploring the theme is followed by an activity where every child participates by creating a special ‘Hands Up for Conservation’ sign to be used on the walk down the main Mfuwe Road on June 4^th. The cards are pre-printed with the words and using different coloured paint for each club – the children or young people place a brightly coloured hand print on the card. “Hands Up for Conservation!”. There are 12 clubs altogether each with about 30 to 40 children so we have our work cut out for us visiting each club and running the activity. 

Really encouraging is that in each of the schools visited so far the Head Teacher (Principal) and the Conservation Club Patrons or class teacher have also participated and added their hand print to the message cards to support the activity, the message and the children. Pictured above is the Head Teacher of Chiwawatala Basic School, Mr Zulu encourages his pupils by taking part in the "Hands Up for Conservation" activity at the Conservation and Chongololo Club.

The children and young people have been most responsive and all have agreed to put their hands up for conservation and help carry that message to the wider community.

Chiwawatala Basic School

Chiwawatala Basic School

Chiwawatala Basic School

Kawaza Basic School

Mfuwe Basic School on a visit to Chipembele Centre

In addition, a local tailor prepared a 4 metre ‘banner’ of calico – and a local sign-writer, Paddy Chilwa, is painting the theme message on it to be carried at the front of the walk.

A well-renowned theatre group SEKA Educational Theatre will be performing a play in the heart of the community at the end of the walk for all the participants and others who come along to join in the fun. Local conservation and community based organisations will have displays about their work. A Junior Quiz will take place with one boy and one girl representing each Chongololo Club, they will be assisted by a young man and woman from the Senior Conservation Clubs. The latter selected by their Club Patron and peers, their role on the day is to assist the younger children in the Quiz, to be mentors and encouragers of environmental stewardship with the younger kids.

Chipembele …Giving children hope and wildlife a chance…

 _________()__________

Getting Fuel On Tuesday morning we left Chipembele early so we could stop to fill up the Landy with fuel. The sole petrol station in Mfuwe had been out of diesel for weeks. Ordered before Easter – the truck finally arrived Monday afternoon, we were informed Diesel would be available from 7.30 am. We left Chipembele early as we had a 9.00 am appointment with the Conservation Club at a far flung village school – Kawaza Basic School. Arriving at the Petrol Station at 7.30 – we were second in line at the pump. However, this being Africa – the tanker had only just started to unload. An hour-by-hour update to Rochelle – saw the Kawaza meeting re-arranged three times! By the time the fuel was unloaded there were 15 or so vehicles lined up, many with 44 gallon drums, or multiple jerry cans waiting to be filled on the back, we were told the diesel supply would last only two days and then there would be more weeks of no fuel at the only BP! Finally fuelled up at 10.30 – we travelled the 15 km’s to Kawaza, crossing two rivers and taking the vehicle-width track twisting and turning through fields of elephant grass and food crops… arriving at the school at 11.30!

Wildlife Fix for Wildlife Junkies…

You know you are NOT in a city anymore when there are no traffic lights, you are crossing dry rivers and gullies and red billed hornbills swoop across the track in front of you.

Getting to ‘work’ is an adventure, a bit different than suburban Adelaide (South Australia) where the most exciting thing you see on the way to work might be a moggie sitting on a fence post. We started our day on Monday morning watching a lioness walk across the open area opposite our Bush House while having our first coffee!

Driving to Mfuwe at 7.00 am – we turned out of Chipembele towards town and onto the 16km rutted and gullied track. We wished a sedate young bull elephant good morning. A bachelor group of impala, in their usual high-jinx first thing – were chasing each other backwards and forwards across the road a few kilometres on (They were still chasing one another 7 hours later on our return!). Then the troop of about 30 Golden baboons from the local troop, the big male, many females, adolescents and babies crossed in front of us. Sweet!

Squirrels darted from the safety of the side of the road across in front of us, to run up a tree on the opposite side… begging the question… “Why did the squirrel cross the road?”.

A small family group of elephant browsed peaceably near a cut-away, the youngest member of the family was about 5 months old. A big crocodile sat sunning herself on the Dambo bank on the way to and from town, seemingly not having moved or closed her jaws all day – perhaps she was passively waiting for some tasty antelope to fall in to her gaping maw!

Waves and love from the beautiful Luangwa

Jude and Kaye

PS: At sundowners Tuesday night a sole elephant came to drink at the river, silhouetted against a pink blush sky. Wednesday, a rare sighting of a group of 5 Spoon Bills fished in the shallows while the lilac and blue streaked sky darkened to indigo. Magic!

Elephant in the Room…Almost...

Greetings from Zambia!

Starting Work

Sunday saw us start our ‘work’. Anna had returned from the UK with 5 big sacks of children’s clothes and seven sacks of School Uniforms from Operation Sunshine. These needed sorting into age, size and the uniforms also in colour for various schools, for instance Navy Blue for Kawaza Basic School. Starting early in the Chipembele Centre in the coolest part of the day, Kaye and I sorted the casual clothes according to age sizing. Making a spreadsheet for stocktaking as we went. The big pile of beautiful quality school uniforms are still to be sorted, but hope to have this well underway today.

A Bright Sprite Moment

One bright moment on Sunday was meeting Sprite – the 9 year old bushbuck – who, orphaned in 2001 came to Chipembele for rehabilitation and release. Sprite still returns from time to time, her latest offspring, an almost adult daughter, accompanies her – but she stays well away from the house. Kaye gave Sprite apple and carrot treats and it is always such a privilege to be up close and personal with a wild animal. It is also a real testament to Anna and Steve’s good care – that Sprite has learned the bush sense to survive these 9 years.

Heading into Town

On Monday Anna, the Chipembele Driver/mechanic Victor and us two headed off on the 45 minute bumpy trip to Mfuwe. On the way we stopped to meet Karen and Dave the managers of Project Luangwa. Their house is set in the ZAWA compound – and has a stunning view over a dambo. As we talked about their project and shared a cup of tea – the Hadada ibis and other birds picked their way across the green expanse.

On to Mfuwe proper and stopping at the BP we met up with 5 young men who were engaged to work on the road leading to Chipembele. The Chipembele Wildlife classes start again on Wednesday 9^th May – and the children come to the centre in the Chipembele truck. The road, in places is very rough – and the men have been employed to fix some of the worst spots so we don’t lose any kids ‘overboard’!

Meeting Chipembele Team Mates

We were really excited to meet Rochelle, the Chipembele Conservation Outreach in Schools Manager for the first time. An Australian, Rochelle arrived in the Valley in January and since commencing work has made great headway in the curriculum and connecting with the Conservation Club members. It was great to meet her after so many Skype sessions and emails back and forth. The Computer Resource Centre Manager and Pupil Mentor, Eunice is just lovely and we look forward to our plans of working with Eunice to develop a programme for the newly established Girls Club while we are here.

Victory for Victory Community School

We visited the newly built Victory Community School and met the head teacher James. Some of you may remember the urgent work done on the old school in 2009, the roof was leaking badly, so we raised funds to re-roof with thatch. The front wall of the school collapsed last year – and Schuls Projekt Sambia has provided the funds to build the new class room block. This will be officially opened on Monday.

The Elephant in the Room – Almost!

After a quick shop at the market and picking up the five men who are the road workers, we returned to Chipembele – to find Elephant browsing on the campus grounds. We made cuppas and sat just inside the doors of our Bush House and watched as Elephant wandered right up beside us! He was so close we could have reached out and touched him.

Snakes Alive!

Sundowners was once again splendid – subdued by Luangwa standards – but came to an abrupt end when Coco, one of the two delightful and full on Jack Russells copped a spray in her right eye of spitting cobra venom when she shoved her face in an interesting hole in the bank of the river. Anna grabbed Coco and we ran the 100 metres up to the house – Anna and Jude flushed the venom for two full minutes with the hose and applied antihistamine eye cream. This morning Coco’s eye is swollen and red and she is obviously still in pain, however her instant treatment has bought good results.

Steve has rushed up to the house with us to care for Betty; who was clinging to Anna for dear life, wide eyed - with all the fuss about. Kaye was left behind in Cobra Territory to put away the chairs!

Route Reconnoiter

This morning Kaye is out having a driving lesson with Steve in the 4x4 and to learn the route from Chipembele to Mfuwe and back – there are many side tracks and diversions around gullies and fallen trees and the like – and we would hate to have to “call home”, if we could even get a signal!
Ring Ring

“Hello?”

“We are lost!”
“Where are you?”
“We don’t know…we are near an elephant and there’s a big forked tree”…

Hopefully, the reconnoiter will forestall such an event!

All for now, until next time. Much love and waves from the Luangwa…

Jude and Kaye

PS: OUR SLEEP WAS DISTURBED 5 TIMES LAST NIGHT WITH THE DEEP ROARING OF LION - CLOSE! This morning Moses, one of the men who work at Chipembele pointed out the lion paw prints about 5 metres from the Bush House! WOW!

Two Weeks and Counting...

Jude and Kaye - Pom Pom Camp
Okavango Delta 2008

Kaye and I are flying to Southern Africa to begin our fourth trip to this amazing continent on Easter Saturday. That is exactly 14 days, 4 hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds from now. Whoo Hoo!

In 2005 we went on our first ever overseas trip. We went camping for three weeks through the wilds of Botswana - Here is a naive and bouncy 'Trip Report' about that trip.

Falling head over heels and planning to once more immerse ourselves in Africa became our reason for living/working/breathing. In 2008 we super-sized and travelled for 60 days through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.  There is a tiny selection of our 10,000 photographs from that trip here

In Zambia we visited Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust, a small NGO located near the South Luangwa National Park. We were amazed and blown away by the Wildlife Education Centre Anna and Steve Tolan had built in 2001- and their projects and programmes teaching local children the value of their wildlife so it may be conserved for present and future generations...

We decided on our return to do anything we could from here in Adelaide, South Australia to assist Anna and Steve in their work. graciously they allowed us to help out with some online activity - social networking,updating the website and assisting with funding applications and other admin work we can do from 11,000 kilometres away. 

                                                  
Three years later we are permanent volunteers and very much part of the Chipembele Team. 

We are heading to Chipembele in just a few short weeks to volunteer our time in helping Chipembele to celebrate 10 years of achievement of wildlife education excellence as the official "Cheer Squad" leaders. 


So we are kind of  Going for Good 

How very privileged and lucky are we to be  living at Chipembele? We will be close by to our good friends, Anna and Steve. We will awaken every morning in this beautiful landscape, living in a great bush house in the South Luangwa Valley. And the most exciting bit of all... with Elephants wandering by... *heaven!

We hope to be able to bring updates from the field...

So please watch this space as we share being...

At Large In Zambia...

*Of course, we can say 'heaven' because we won't be trying to grow our own food there. The local people, majority subsistence farming - are at the pointy end of the wildlife human interface. They live and grow their crops bang up against the beautiful wild and thriving South Luangwa National Park. Human wildlife conflict is inevitable and the Communities, Chipembele, South Luangwa Conservation Society, Zambian Carnivore Programme and  the safari tourism operations form an important coalition in protecting, educating, researching and conserving this rich and diverse eco-system. We so look forward to living and working in this community.