My name is Jenny and I am a Zimbabwean now living in the UK.

About six weeks ago (end of October 2013), a fellow Zimbabwean and I were discussing the tragedy of the Hwange elephants being poisoned with cyanide: the number of dead: over a hundred.  Well, she was discussing and I was spitting mad and saddened by the this latest poaching spree, of which the fall out has been disastrous for all animals in the Game Reserve.  Tight lipped with anger, I was muttering how we should all get off our backsides and try to do something….. what, I was not sure.   I was told by my fellow Zimbabwean that there was absolutely nothing we could do to help these animals.

I felt sick to the stomach after she had left… but not for long.

My mind kept wandering back to our fishing trips on the Zambezi River….. the haunting cry of the fish eagle as they cruise the empty air spaces.  Our idea of  ‘Heaven on Earth’ with the bronzed bush, the vast and endless sky, swollen river glinting orange in the sunset and tiger fish.   The best prize of all would be the evenings and waiting for the elephants to pay us a visit, or so we liked to think.  They would arrive, sun kissed in the evening light, ambling slowly through the camp and halting under the hooded acacia tree, lazily browsing and rumbling gently, long trunks swinging freely and large ears fanning the breeze.  I could feel that awesome tingle of happiness that these large and gentle giants engender in me.  Food for the soul… bang… and I would drop back to earth, into our new life and thoughts of what I could do to help.

For a couple of days my mind was spinning and the comment from my fellow Zimbabwean irked!! Emotions…I kept coming back to emotions.  Poetry..?

I do not profess to be a ‘Master of Poetry’ – quite the reverse, but I am passionate about elephants.  For me, they are ‘The essence of  the African landscape.’  Majestic and mystical.

I am going to do my best to  spread awareness of the rampant elephant poaching taking place throughout the world, through my poetry and blogging on current wildlife news.  I would like to be another string  in their bow, bringing a different perspective to these gentle giants, linking  ‘you tube’ cruisers up with the different institutions that do such incredible work. I intend to provide links where people can donate to many organisations that are in place for the preservation of elephants, and other wild life. I also would like to involve our two little granddaughters, teaching them about these amazing animals, engendering a passion for not only elephant, but wild life… with hopes of a visit back to our beloved Zimbabwe to enjoy the river again.. with elephants a plenty.

Elephants are a vital part of the land.  Land without elephants is a land with no soul: