We had some great news in this month from former Elewana Collection guest Chris Bardin and his wife Rosanna. They visited Tanzania in the summer of 2018 with their niece and stayed at Tarangire Treetops, the Manor Ngorongoro and Serengeti Migration Camp as well as spending a few days in Arusha at the Coffee Lodge. On their return home, their niece declared that her new favourite place in the world was Tarangire and all the family were hugely touched by the story of the human-elephant conflict and the ways in which our partners on the ground are finding to protect crops and communities and conserve elephants.

Rosanna and Chris decided they wanted to do something to help, so they committed to running a sponsored half marathon to raise funds for conflict mitigation toolkit, to be donated to the village scouts. After a few months of training the day arrived – and they got going!

The event is called the Leodis Grim and was held on the 8th December near Leeds in northern Yorkshire England. Chris and Rosanna got their numbers, got out on the route, and kept going! The half marathon route, for anyone familiar with the area, ran from Kirkstall Abbey for the first couple of miles and then broke away to follow the River Aire to Apperley Bridge. Runners then left the river and climbed up through the woods in Calverley on a wide and steady trail, before dropping back to meet the canal again and back to the Abbey.

Chris and Rosanna both made it all the way! In fact not only did they complete the run but they earned themselves places of 80th and 81st – not bad at all from a registered list of 176 runners!

Their family and friends were most generous and very supportive, and Chris and Rosanna were able to raise £665 which they are sending to Land & Life. This money will be used as they wished, to cover the cost of a human-elephant conflict mitigation toolkit in Randilen Wildlife Management Area, in which sits Tarangire Treetops.

Land & Life, and the elephants of Tarangire, would like to thank Chris and Rosanna for their efforts. It is thanks to dedicated and generous people like this that we are able to do what we do. Well done to both for their achievement, and hooray to everyone who finished the Leodis Grim Run :D