Maung Tun Thu - Elephant Trader

Elephant trader

Once upon a time, this building was a windowless sandstone structure with a thatched roof. Daniel Armstrong recalled the time he had personally supervised the construction of this building nearly ten years earlier.

At that time, he was a junior assistant forest ranger at the National Forestry and Marine Conservation Department, wasn't he?

Now, this building has been thoroughly renovated and transformed into a warehouse for storing valuables.

Johnny Enzo inserted the key in his hand into the heavy lock and pushed open the large double doors of the island. Johnny is the chief superintendent of the Chinweewe National Forest Reserve.

In the past, Johnny had been Daniel's guide and gunman. Johnny was a smart, agile Matabele.

While they were working together, he taught Johnny to read, write, and speak English by the light of thousands of campfires.

When Johnny was studying at the University of South Africa, he couldn't afford to pay his tuition fees, so Daniel lent him money. Johnny later earned a BSc in Science from the university.

At that time, two young men, one black and one white, were constantly coming and going together.

They patrolled this vast government-owned forest together, alternating between walking and cycling.

Working together in the deep darkness of the forest, they became very close friends.

Daniel peeked into the dark interior of the warehouse and whistled softly.

"Hey...my friend Johnny, you've been busy since I left, haven't you?"

The valuables were piled up, stacked until the roof rafters touched. Items worth hundreds and thousands of dollars.

Johnny Enzo took one look at Daniel's face. Daniel was a friend who understood the problem.

He doesn't think he needs to talk about his work in detail.

Because of that thought, I took a moment to look at it with a blank expression on my face.

Daniel didn't meet Johnny's gaze. He turned to his cameraman and spoke.

"Hey... is there good lighting inside? I want to take some good pictures of the interior."

The cameraman, unable to walk quickly due to the heavy load he was carrying, moved forward slowly and heavily. He turned on the battery switch on one side of his waist and tested the light he held in one hand. The battery light fell on the valuables.

"Here...Jorge, you follow me and the supervisor to the edge of the warehouse."

Danny instructed.

The cameraman nodded and stepped forward. He adjusted the Sony video camera so that it was comfortably on his shoulder.

Jock is in his early thirties. He wears khaki shorts and flip-flops. Sweat drips from his brown chest in the Zambezi Valley heat.

Her long hair is tied with a leather band. The hair falls down to her neck.

He may look like a popular singer in the modern music world, but he is actually an artist who can capture extraordinary images with a big Sony camera.

Jock shuffled his camera through the messy pile of tusks until he reached Daniel's hand, where he was holding a very large, beautiful tusk. Then he pulled the camera back and took a full-length shot of Daniel.

Daniel has a PhD in biology, has written several books, and has given lectures.

About the habits of living creatures in Africa

He is also an influential and internationally recognized speaker in the field of ecology, which deals with environmental interactions.

However, it is not because of these reasons that it is internationally famous.

Daniel is a healthy and strong man. He is a handsome man and has a very good personality. His appearance on the television screen is very dignified and pleasing to look at. His voice is also very pleasant. When he speaks, his accent and manner of speaking are also very pleasant.

Daniel's father was a staff officer in the Defence Forces during World War II, serving under Generals Wavell and Field Marshal Montgomery in the North African campaign.

After the war, he went to live in Rhode Island and grew tobacco. Thus, Daniel was born in Africa. Then, when he was an adult, his father sent Daniel back to Sint-Jan, England, to be educated.

Daniel then returned to Rhodesia and joined the National Wildlife Conservation Service.

Daniel looked straight into the camera and began speaking.

"Ivory has been a prized possession since the time of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, and has become one of the most beautiful and valuable natural materials. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the jewel of African elephants."

Daniel slowly walked among the piles of ivory, Johnny Enzo following close behind him.

"For two thousand years, humans have hunted elephants for their ivory, which is considered white gold. Yet, until a decade ago, there were still more than two million elephants left in Africa..."

"Looking at this, it seems that the number of elephants is increasing again. This is not because they are being protected, encouraged to increase, and supervised..."

“But that perception is sadly mistaken, because we have seen nearly a million elephants killed in the past ten years.”

"We're at a point where we're going to have to consider whether we're going to continue to stand by and watch this situation. Our presence in this area, this place, is about that issue. Where did they get these tusks?"

"Here, some of the tusks are found. They are from elephants that died naturally in this forest. Some are my own.

The forest rangers seized it from the thieves..."

"But most of the ivory is from elephants that our department has identified as 'retired' and deemed unfit to continue living, as per our mandate."

Daniel and Johnny walked to the far end of the warehouse and stopped. They turned to face the camera and stopped.

"We'll discuss the ivory business plan later, Mr. Johnny. First, I'd like to talk about the current situation of ivory poaching in Chin State. Is the situation there really that bad?"

“I would say it’s getting worse every day.”

Johnny said, shaking his head with a sad expression on his face.

"Elephant traders, who know that elephants are disappearing in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, are turning their attention to our herds in the south."

"Zambia is a country that can be reached by crossing the Zambezi River. So the elephant poachers come across the river and come here. They are stronger than us in terms of manpower and weapons."

"They are a group of people who don't hesitate to shoot and kill people, elephants, and rhinos," he said.

"We can't help but shoot when we encounter a group of elephant poachers. We have to shoot first."

"All this ivory"

Daniel didn't continue speaking, but placed one hand on the nearest ivory statue.

Each tusk is different. Some are straight and long, while others are curved like a bow. Some have sharp tips, while others are short and blunt.

Most of the tusks are pearly white. Some are a creamy white. Some still have bits of vegetable matter stuck to them.

Most of the tusks are from female elephants. Some are not fully grown. The largest is about the size of a person's arm. These tusks are taken from young elephants. Only a few fully grown tusks are from older elephants.

Daniel's face, as he caresses and caresses an ivory tusk, expresses his anguish.

After all, he had written books about the devastation of Africa and the fascinating world of animals, right?

"These tusks are proof that these intelligent and majestic creatures are becoming increasingly rare. This situation is inevitable, and the natural changes that are transforming this entire continent are very sad."

I think...

African elephants are a unique symbol of Africa, but elephants are on the verge of extinction. So is the entire continent going to extinction?

Daniel is honestly expressing what he feels in his heart. The camera faithfully records everything he sees.

The success of Daniel's television program in the international arena is due to this truth.

Daniel turned to look at Johnny Enzo.

"I would like to know if elephants are going extinct, how many elephants are left in Zimbabwe, and how many elephants are left in Mr. Johnny's Chinwewi National Forest."

“It is estimated that there are about 52,000 elephants left in Zimbabwe. We can say more precisely how many there are in Chinwewe Forest. About three months ago, with the help of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, we went through the entire forest with a net and took aerial photographs. At that time, we were able to count them accurately.”

"How many horses are there?"

Daniel interrupted.

"There are eighteen thousand elephants in the Chinweewe forest."

"Then it's not a small number, but in this country with such a harsh climate, there are so many."