Environmental management Ga-Selati river bed cleaning

Elephants are here...

This morning, we (the volunteers) with our guide LEO are installed in the GaSelati river bed; the objective is the observation of elephants moving on the banks of the river.

After a long time spent observing them from afar, our guide decides to get closertotheherd,onfoot,followingthe bed of the river.

We are just beginning our slow and careful approach when we come to an area with lots of trash.

Our elephant sighting spontaneously turns into clearing the river bed, with our guide ensuring our safety.

There is a lot of waste to evacuate, including a huge, very heavy wooden reel. The harvest is fruitful...

We will resume elephant watching after this cleaning.At that timetheyare no longer in the river. We will find them in the forest but without being able to approach them on foot, only by car.

These very thorny succulents look like prickly pears and grow in the form of compact clumps.

These very invasive plants are uprooted and evacuated with great care.

When we left this "construction site", this massif had completely disappeared.

But there were still others who will be eliminated by other volunteers who will come after us.

Some areas of the Ga-Selati river bed are invaded by a species of plant native to South America. In this season, the objective is to collect the hulls ofthis plant whichcontaindozens of seeds.

In total we collected more than 1100 hulls. The LEO guide burns them in a metal barrel and controls the fire.

Environmental management Elimination of alien plants

The objective is to make this large cactus die and dry out without cutting it or dropping it. The natural treatment startedseveral months agowill have to be continued for several more months tocompletelyeliminatethiscandelabra cactus.