Forgotten Kingdom – Nine Years in Yunnan, 1939-48 by Peter Goullart
This is a travel book that unfurls like a lotus flower. It has happiness at its heart but is grown out of hardship in the steep-sided valleys of south-western China.
The decade is the 1940s and the location is the province of Yunnan, geographically cut apart from the rest of China and still webbed with tribes, traditions and traders.
Invitation to the reception held by the Chinese Embassy in London and the WWF-UK to mark the closure of China’s domestic ivory market
China has closed its domestic ivory market. The evening begins with speeches, each given to mark the giant step taken by China to protect the elephants of Africa.
This began as a reblog of an old post – it has turned into a new one about a situation that continues to haunt me … the on-going sale of Zimbabwe’s wild, young elephants to distant zoos and tourist parks.
Zimbabwe’s elephants
Elephants, the big-eared nomads of Africa, are in trouble. They are squeezed for space, many are slain for ivory, and others are sold into captivity.
Zimbabwe, in southern Africa, is blessed with large herds of elephants, some of the happiest on the continent … but there is danger, both from poaching and live export. The elephants are up for sale and buyers are waiting.
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The Phraser 