The Imire Elephant: Matriarch of the African Buffalos

Some of the elephants at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

One of the elephants eating.  It's amazing how powerful they are, taking down trees.

Hi, elephant tush!

A baby elephant.  Still my favorite of all the animals, how can you not just love a baby elephant?

Imire has an elephant who is rather famous for her 'identity crisis.'

Nzou is the matriarch of this herd of African Buffalo.  That's right, she's the head of a herd of African Buffalo.

When Nzou first arrived at Imire, she was placed with a bull elephant within the only large herd Imire a had at the time---a buffalo herd.  By the time the bull elephant died, Nzou had immersed herself so completely within the buffalo herd that she became distressed when Imire tried to move her to the elephant herd they had obtained.  The buffalo also became visibly unsettled by her absence.

When I visited, fourteen male African Buffalo had challenged Nzou for head of the herd over the past 30 years---she won every time.

A wanderlust into the snows of New England

I love Africa, but I love to travel, a lot.

And some good old fashioned Americana recently appeased the wanderlust in me.

A quick trip to New England to see a best friend who humored me, bringing me to Woodstock, Vermont.

Where it snowed the entire time we visited.  Those (lucky enough?) to know me, know one thing:

Christmas, winter, and snow bring me joy.  Maybe too much joy.  Think the joy of a five year old in a toy store.  That type of joy.

And best friend made it happen.  Gloriously in Vermont, complete with snow sculptures!

Vermont is known for its covered bridges----in all my wandering, I'd actually never seen a covered bridge!

And then the icing on the cake: a beautiful snow covered tree with its Christmas lights still on it.

I think I may have spontaneously combusted from the combination of all things I love and can't find in Africa.

And how adorable is Woodstock?

National Geographic Magazine named Woodstock one of America's Most Picturesque Villages.

It was the perfect solution to my wanderlust.  Thank you, friend.

The Imire Rhinos

One of the rhinos at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

Rhinos are heavily poached throughout Africa, especially in southern Africa, for their horns.

Some Asian cultures believe the horns have healing and aphrodisiac powers (they don't.) which has sky rocketed

the black market price for the horns and lead to many rhinos being killed unnecessarily.

One way to try and avoid poaching is to file down their horns to make them less of a target as Imire as done.

This rhino's mother was killed by poachers when he was a month old.  He survived by hiding under his mother's body.

National Geographic did a documentary on him as he grew up in the Imire garden and became friends with the warthogs.
It's called something like The Rhino in the Garden... 

For more information on efforts to save rhinos.