Ebola .... and malaria ....

There is another ebola outbreak in the DRC .... Democratic Republic of the Congo .... with the disease first appearing in a rural and hard to get at area .... very poor roads, tracks really, and with virtually no health care.   Ebola has spread to the city of Mbandaka, on the Congo river, which is the 'road' to other parts of the country and the capital, Kinshasa.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are working in the area to try and contain the outbreak, to stop it spreading to Kinshasa, and thence to other countries along the Congo River.  A vaccine still in development and licensing after the last outbreak of ebola in three west African countries two years ago, is now being given to health workers most at risk.  There isn't enough of the vaccine to vaccinate a population of several million people.  

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And in Kenya, the rains have been torrential this spring, with thousands of people flooded out of their homes along the coast, and in the refugee camps in the north-east of the country.  Following rains come mosquitoes and then malaria.  

Update on 'The forty-ninth year' .... and a diagnosis !

https://luolaughter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/the-forty-ninth-year.html

I wrote about 'the forty-ninth year' last year, I think in April.   I had always had the desire to be in Kenya on the 50th anniversary of my setting foot in Africa for the first time, back in September 1968.   However, ever since I returned last year, I have been suffering from some mysterious infection or illness, which I briefly mentioned in that posting, and at long last, after 14 months and many, many tests, have a diagnosis as to why I have, in the past year, had one cold after another, pneumonia, noro-virus, encephalitis, urinary infections, and so on.   I have been suffering (possibly for many years) from coeliac disease !   This has manifested itself in my immune system not working, continual tiredness, weight loss, lack of bodily temperature control, ataxia, etc. etc.  

(Gluten free bread, by the way, is FOUL !   It is dry and crumbly, and toast made from it, shatters, like a broken car windscreen !   But being 'gluten-free' is no big deal, its necessary, and I'll cope with it.)

But anyway, I had some months ago decided to abandon the '50th year' visit to Kenya, and go instead on another visit to Jerusalem.  It is very expensive, but I will use the remainder of the money I had put by for one more Kenya visit, and somehow scrape together the rest.  Determination is my middle name !!

So this year, I'll be swapping this ......

.... for this .....

Army Worm

I remember in the early 1970's, there was a lot of work being done, studying army worms, at I.C.I.P.E. ( the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi).   Now there is a new threat.   

This shows people in Vihiga, which was only a couple of miles from where I used to live at Maseno, about 25 miles west of Kisumu.    It was an article in the Daily Telegraph a few days ago, about a slightly different caterpillar called the Fall Army Worm, which has somehow crossed the Atlantic and is now present in Africa.  It reports that this caterpillar can devastate maize crops almost overnight.  

Subsistence farmers can be ruined if this 'worm' gets onto their crops.  The moths can travel more than 60 miles in a night, lay 1,000 to 1,500 eggs, which hatch out into the caterpillars, which then munch their way through maize, millet, sorghum and other crops.  

Genetically modified crops have an immunity to the pest, but these are not grown in most of Africa, because of cost.   Many subsistence farmers keep some of their best maize seeds to plant the following year.   

Eradicating hunger in Africa could be put at grave risk because of this 'worm' ....

Lost photo found ........

I was looking for this one when I wrote a posting about mountains .... 

A thin person on top of Menegai crater in 1969, a steep old extinct volcano near Nakuru, where we lived for a couple of years.    Goodness !   To be that skinny again .... !!

Reduction in flying toilets !!

Kenya's very strict plastic bag ban seems to be working since it was introduced 8 months ago. 

(Picture and article adapted from The Guardian)

Children now playing on what was a huge rubbish dump, mostly composed of plastic bags.  

Waterways are clearer, the food chain is less contaminated with plastic – and there are fewer “flying toilets”.

A year after Kenya announced the world’s toughest ban on plastic bags, and eight months after it was introduced, the authorities are claiming victory – so much so that other east African nations Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan are considering following suit.

But it is equally clear that there have been significant knock-on effects on businesses, consumers and even jobs as a result of removing a once-ubiquitous feature of Kenyan life.

“Our streets are generally cleaner which has brought with it a general ‘feel-good’ factor,” said David Ong’are, the enforcement director of the National Environment Management Authority. “You no longer see carrier bags flying around when its windy. Waterways are less obstructed. Fishermen on the coast and Lake Victoria are seeing few bags entangled in their nets.”

Ong’are said abattoirs used to find plastic in the guts of roughly three out of every 10 animals taken to slaughter. This has gone down to one. The government is now conducting a proper analysis to measure the overall effect of the measure.

The draconian ban came in on 28 August 2017, threatening up to four years’ imprisonment or fines of $40,000 (£31,000) for anyone producing, selling – or even just carrying – a plastic bag.

In Nairobi’s shanty towns, one immediate impact was on the practice of defecating in a plastic bag, tying it up and then throwing it on to the tin roofs, a convenience known as “flying toilets”.

In the Mathare community, this is good news. Since the ban was introduced, many more people are using a communal toilet, which charges 5 Kenyan shillings (4p) for single use or 100 shillings for a month-long family pass.

The facility is on the bustling thoroughfare leading down into Mathare valley. One of the administrators Caleb Omondi said he has already noticed a difference now that flying toilets are effectively prohibited.

“The number of users is now much higher. We used to get about 300 people a day. Now it’s over 400,” he said. “I’m overjoyed. This is making the community cleaner and we get more income.”

Old photos, 1 ... Mountains (and a few hills)

I've been sitting out the awful chilly, wet spring weather sorting old photos and slides from the late 1960's onwards, and thought readers might like to see some of them !  (It's just me, showing off really !)   I must apologise for the dreadful state of some of these pictures .... they have suffered the ravages of time, dust and damp.

So .... some mountains:

Mount Kenya, jagged bare rocks - all that remains of an eroded volcanic plug; a real mountaineers mountain, not for an easy stroll or even a hard trek, like Kilimanjaro.

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Fancy coming out of your tent at dawn, and seeing the highest mountain in Africa !  The twin peaks of Kilimanjaro, from Amboseli Reserve, on the Kenya/Tanzania border, with the highest part (Kibo - 5895 metres, or 19,341 ft) on the right, and Mawenzi, on the left.   Kibo is regularly climbed by intrepid tourists; it takes five days for the expedition, with guides, and the risk of altitude sickness, but many do it.  (I never did, but my parents-in-law climbed it in their late 50's, and survived to tell the tale !)

And from the Tanzania side, with Kibo to the left and Mawenzi to the right.

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"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills ..."  (Karen Blixen in 'Out of Africa').

We took my mother on her first day ever in Africa in 1969, for a picnic on the Ngong, and some elderly Maasai men came and squatted down to talk to us.   They were naked except for a blanket draped loosely over one shoulder .... and it was quite breezy .... and my poor mother didn't know where to look ! 

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One of my father-in-laws pictures, taken from the plane on the way to/from Kenya.  The Rift Valley, with Mt. Longonot nearest, and Mt Suswa further away.  Both are virtually extinct volcanos, though both still have active fumaroles emitting super-heated steam.  Suswa has lava tunnels which can be explored.   We climbed Mt. Longonot one day ... 

... the gully that led to the top was dry, lava gravel, and mother-in-law and myself decided the best way to proceed was to sit, and slide upwards on our butts .... two or three metres upwards, and slip one metre downwards .... but we got to the top eventually.   Coming down again was fast and furious, sliding with the lava gravel !

I loved the mountains and hills, and we explored the Chyulu's, the Aberdares, the Cherangani's, and many hills and mountains northwards to Lake Rudolf/Turkana ... 

.... maybe I'll add some pictures of them another day !

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Couldn't resist another of Kili, this time taken from Tsavo West National Park.  Just imagine what the first white explorers thought when they saw snow virtually on the Equator !

Daphne Sheldrick

This amazing lady who rescued so many orphaned elephants over the last 40 years has died a few days ago at the age of 83.  

photo from Daily Nation

Dame Daphne Sheldrick, a conservationist famous for her work rearing baby elephants in Kenya and fighting for the protection of the species, has died aged 83, her family said Friday.

"Daphne passed away the evening of the 12th April after a long battle with breast cancer, a battle she finally lost," her daughter Angela wrote in a statement.

"Her legacy is immeasurable and her passing will reverberate far and wide because the difference she has made for conservation in Kenya is unparalleled."

KENYAN

Sheldrick was born in Kenya in 1934, and spent nearly 30 years working with her husband David who founded Kenya's biggest National Park, Tsavo East.

After his death, she founded The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT), famous both for its contribution to conservation and to tourists who flock to the Nairobi centre daily to witness orphaned baby elephants being bottle-fed and frolicking in the mud.

"Daphne was the first person to successfully hand raise a milk dependent new born elephant and rhino, knowledge that has seen more than 230 orphaned elephants saved in Kenya, and countless other infant elephants in countries across Africa and into India," read a statement on the trust's website.

With their mothers shot by poachers for ivory, or dying due to frequent droughts, or human-wildlife conflict, scores of baby elephants found their way into Sheldrick's care.

MILK FORMULA

However, it took her 28 years to discover the magic milk formula that would keep alive the baby elephants, who cannot survive without it under the age of two.

But milk is often not enough. Dedicated keepers spend 24 hours a day with the elephants, highly social and emotional creatures who are often severely traumatised when they arrive at the orphanage.

"The infant is very fragile. One must think in human terms for an elephant," Sheldrick said in a 2004 interview.

When they are about two years old, the elephants leave the orphanage for Tsavo park where they try to join a new herd in what can be a long and difficult process.

However they continue to return to greet new elephants and their keepers for years to come.

'SHE LIVED ALONGSIDE ELEPHANTS'

Sheldrick's work has featured on countless television programmes and documentaries, while she also wrote several books.

In 2006 Queen Elizabeth II appointed Sheldrick Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the first Knighthood to be awarded in Kenya since the country received independence in 1963, according to the trust.

The Kenyan government in 2001 presented her with a Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) decoration — one of the country's top honours.

According to the Great Elephant Census project, African Savanna elephant populations fell by 30 percent between 2007 and 2014.

"Daphne lived alongside elephants and learned to read their hearts, much as they read ours - she understood their fragility, their intelligence, their capacity to love, to grieve, to heal, to support one another and she took those lessons to the global stage," read the tribute to her on the trust's website.

"In doing so, Daphne became a leading voice for elephants, never through a desire for the limelight, only ever driven by her belief that elephants, and other wild species, have a right to live a free and protected life - just like us."

(Report from Daily Nation)

Another video made by Nigel

And finally, a video about the workshop and the work being done there.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oKDEonKWx0&feature=youtu.be

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Hands around the World is constantly considering how much support and ongoing financial help to give to our projects; they all need to become self-supporting and this is our aim for Paluoc.   Some of the projects we supported and built up in the past have completely changed the purpose for which they were built, but that's fine; nothing stays the same in this world !  

Projects develop and turn into something we never thought of; for e.g. the project in Benin where we built a school on stilts (to allow flood waters in the rainy season to flow underneath it) ... has now developed with an orphanage, and since we shipped out a tractor and equipment  some years back, they now have managed to buy some land near the school, and the tractor is used to farm it, and grow food for the school and orphanage.  In addition, the school gains income from the tractor being used to plough other land ... not what we anticipated but local needs being met, and local people benefitting.

HATW has the motto ... "Giving a hand ... not a hand out"  and helping hands and encouragement have worked wonders in many African countries and in India.  

Stevens story ...

Steven Juma is an orphan; I first met him at Paluoc four years ago.   Paul allowed him to live in the tin shed on site as a sort of caretaker; now see how he has blossomed and grown up into a fine young man with skills !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=567fId3YNy0&feature=youtu.be

Kennedy

Kennedy has been training and working at the Paluoc carpentry workshop in Kisumu for about 3 years now.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxeU6A4PHco&feature=youtu.be

Take a look at this little video !   Its good to see him again; Nigel (one of the volunteers I went to Kisumu with in 2011) has returned to advise at the workshop, and to update HATW.  Bonaventure has moved on and is working for himself elsewhere now.   Stephen Juma is still learning and has made furniture and so on for his tin house on the site ... another video will be on here shortly ..........

More on the new 'rift' ....

Reading more recent reports in various newspapers, both here in UK and in Africa, opinions still seem to be divided as to the cause of the crack that opened up in the area near the Maai Mahiu to Narok road.

One said "Geologists have said that the fault line is as a result of the Somali tectonic plate pulling away from the African one as a result of activity in the earth's crust."

Really ??

Another is very firmly of the opinion that the crack was in fact formed by erosion of soil beneath the surface due to recent heavy rains in Kenya. A look at satellite optical imagery indicates that similar erosional features can be seen elsewhere in the region suggesting that these flash flood events have caused erosion before. This agrees with what local geologists have said and previous studies have concluded – rainwater has washed away deep layers of loose volcanic ash deposited by previous volcanic eruptions in the rift valley. 

Two new pictures from Reuters:

Where has the soil from the hollows been washed to in the first photo ?    Or were the hollows along the crack there for years, just waiting for the top layer to collapse ?   It could have been scary if a tractor had been ploughing and suddenly disappeared into one of the holes !   In Europe and the US there have been many cases over the years of sink holes suddenly opening up in roads, under peoples gardens, and with cars falling into them.

(Later)    I just remembered these photos taken about 1972 ... 

I wonder if the erosion gully (photo above) started out small as in the Reuters photos ....

... and might even end up like the above .... Chebloch Gorge in the Kerio Valley ??   I'd love to go back to the Kerio to see how the geography has changed .... 

"Fake news" about last years elections now comes to light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=525TpQNmbAI

There has been so much in the UK news lately about 'fake' news and Cambridge Analytica's part in various elections, and several governments perhaps producing 'fake' news .... that the above YouTube video is interesting.

This being Easter, one is reminded of what Pontius Pilate said .... “What is truth?”  

What indeed !

Is the Rift Valley rifting ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-43501954/huge-crack-opens-in-kenya-s-rift-valley

I hope the link to the BBC item works .... but if not, this huge deep crack has opened up in the Rift Valley near Suswa, and is several miles long, cutting through the Nairobi to Narok road, which I frequently travelled on in the bus !

It has been suggested that the recent heavy rains after a year of drought, plus seismic activity, have caused it. 

This is not many miles from the semi-dormant volcanoes of Mt Suswa and Mt Longonot.  Suswa has miles of lava tunnels, and I believe the local Maasai still take tourists on walks through the underground tunnels.  We climbed Mt Longonot a long time ago (45 years ?!) and there were steam jets puffing away inside the crater, indicating some activity deep within the earth.   

A bargain !

Doing my usual trip round the charity shops, I found this in Oxfam .... for £1.50 !!

Not something I need and probably will never use as I've never been to Zambia and am not likely to .... but I couldn't resist it; good descriptions, and wonderful colour illustrations of all the birds.   

The end of Sudan

No, not the country, but this magnificent rhino.   

He was the last living male northern white rhino.   These animals had once, not so long ago, roamed the plains and bush of north western Uganda, Sudan, Chad and the DRC, in Garamba National Park.   In the 1960's and 1970's they were plentiful, but then came poaching and civil war.  Rhino horn is made of kerotin, the same material as our finger nails and hair, but in the middle east and China it is considered to be very valuable as an aphrodisiac, and also as dagger handles in the Yemen.   It is said to be worth more than its weight in gold.

Northern whites are considered by some scientists to be a subspecies of the white rhino; with 'southern' whites being fairly abundant in Kenya and points south in Africa.   Some books consider the two 'subspecies' to actually be separate species, maybe due to separation several thousand or more years ago, like Darwins finches and the Galapagos tortoises, for example.   I think it might depend on whether the scientist you speak to or the book you read 'lumps' or 'splits' the two groups together.   I favour the 'splitting' and think it more than likely that the northern white rhino was a separate species.  But now, as good as extinct.  


News reports read:-

The world's last male northern white rhino has died, the Kenyan conservancy taking care of it said, leaving only two females of its subspecies alive in the world.  Ol Pejeta Conservancy said in a statement it had made the decision with wildlife officials and his previous carers to euthanise on Monday the 45-year-old rhino, named Sudan, due to the rapid deterioration in his condition.   Sudan was being treated for age-related complications that had affected his muscles and bones and also gave him extensive skin wounds.

The rhino had spent two weeks in late February and early March lying in his pen due to discomfort from a deep wound on his right hind leg.   "His condition worsened significantly in the last 24 hours; he was unable to stand up and was suffering a great deal," Ol Pejeta said. "The veterinary team from the Dver Kralove Zoo, Ol Pejeta and Kenya Wildlife Service made the decision to euthanise him."

Sudan had previously lived at the Dver Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic before being transported to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, about 250km north of Nairobi, where he lived with the last two females of the same species, 27-year old Najin and 17-year old Fatu.    After all attempts at getting him to mate naturally failed, conservationists last year put Sudan on dating app Tinder, hoping to raise enough money to pay for a US$9 million fertility treatment. 

Theoretically, the death of Sudan assures the extinction of this subspecies of rhino.

However scientists have gathered his genetic material and are working on developing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques to preserve the subspecies.

The northern white rhino population in Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad was largely wiped out during the poaching crisis of the 1970s and 80s, fueled by demand for rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine in Asia and dagger handles in Yemen.

A final remaining wild population of about 20 to 30 rhinos in the Democratic Republic of Congo was killed in fighting in the late nineties and early 2000s, and by 2008 the northern white rhino was considered extinct in the wild.

Four fertile rhinos, two males and females, were moved from the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta in Kenya, with high hopes that conditions similar to their native habitat would encourage breeding.  However, despite the fact that they were seen mating, there were no successful pregnancies.  Further efforts to mate a male southern white rhino with the females - and thus conserve some of the northern white genes - were also unsuccessful.

The other male rhino, Suni, died of natural causes in October 2014.

"Sudan was the last northern white rhino that was born in the wild. His death is a cruel symbol of human disregard for nature and it saddened everyone who knew him," said Jan Stejskal, Director of International Projects at the Dvur Kralove Zoo.

"But we should not give up. We must take advantage of the unique situation in which cellular technologies are utilised for conservation of critically endangered species. It may sound unbelievable, but thanks to the newly developed techniques even Sudan could still have an offspring."

Very sad .... and all due to greed and stupidity on the part of the arch-killer, Homo sapiens .... man.

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Later ... I've just seen this:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/rhino_poaching

            

Oxfam ... in the news

A much larger charity than Hands Around the World has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons.   (I hope I get the facts correct ... ) but it would seem that some of Oxfam's workers ?  volunteers ?  who were sent to Haiti after the recent disaster there, were abusing their status by visiting prostitutes and behaving in a thoroughly stupid way while working as representatives of an humanitarian organisation.   

This concerns me for two reasons; firstly, the obvious knock-on effect for other humanitarian charities, but also it seems to be part of a larger wider loosening of morals generally in all sorts of organisations and industries, both in the UK and USA .... and possibly other places too.   In the last year or so there have been numerous cases and accusations coming to light of film stars being abused by film directors; politicians are being accused of 'touching up' their secretaries and advisors, and even clergy have acted unwisely towards those in their care.    Many of these cases are 'historical' and I have no idea how the police can investigate them .... 

But my main interest is how on earth can volunteers be proved to be 'squeaky clean' before they are sent to a third world country ?    At HATW, we insist that all our volunteers are checked by what used to be called 'police checks' but are nowadays known as DBS checks.   However, these checks only state that a person is OK on the date of the check and that they have no convictions up to that date.   It does not and cannot certify a person will not behave stupidly in the future when they are abroad.   This is one reason why we do not risk sending 'gap year' students to work in Africa or India.   

There are various organisations, including some in the church, who provide 'safe guarding' courses .... but .... in the end, volunteers for charities have to be trusted to behave responsibly.   Risky, but what else can be done other than not send people abroad, and who suffers then ?

Only in Africa (6)

Talking to people in the office today, we were emphasizing the necessity to volunteers of being 'street wise' in Africa, of keeping money and personal papers safe as pickpockets are very skilled in African cities, and the police are often powerless to do anything to prevent this.   Then we got onto our various experiences with police in Africa ....

This reminded me of something that happened a couple of years ago:  I was travelling with Paul, an African friend in a rather smart car he had borrowed and we were stopped at a police road block, with those vicious spikes across the road in case you decided NOT to stop !

Two policemen approached Paul and a rapid conversation in Dholuo took place, which was too fast for me to follow.   After two or three minutes, the policemen stepped back;  (unusually no money had changed hands), and the two policemen came round to my side of the car, where they stood smartly to attention, saluted me, and then waved us on.

I couldn't understand what had happened so I gave them a regal wave and a smile as we drove off.   I asked Paul what on earth that was all about !

He said he had told them I was the Queen of England !    

Only on visits to Africa do I need to ensure I can do a 'regal' wave !!

Its been three weeks ...........

Goodness, but how time flies !   I think I've been hibernating, whilst recovering from pneumonia.   I calculated I've been ill to a lesser or greater degree for about ten weeks but can now say (I hope with confidence) that I'm on the up !   I know over Christmas I felt dreadful; couldn't eat, couldn't hear, couldn't sleep, continuous coughing .... I'd have said I was feeling about 97 !    But I am slowly clawing back the years, and am now feeling less than 80, so once I pass my actual age, I can say I'm 100% again !!

I've been re-reading that book about the Timbuktu manuscripts, and have another with a rather American title:-

(I had to google 'bad-ass' to see what it means ....  "tough, uncompromising, or intimidating")
My word !     I look forward to reading it !!  

But in re-reading the first book, it struck me that we in the 'civilised' west have always assumed that writing, knowledge and recorded wisdom originated in places like China, the Middle East and Europe, and that 'black' Africa never had these things.   I am reminded of the question asked by Nathanael in Johns gospel:-    “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ... or "Can anything good come out of Africa?"   How wrong, arrogant and self-important we were, and are, to think that ! 

The British explorer Samuel Baker in 1874 stated: "In the savage country of Central Africa there are no vestiges of the past; no ancient architecture, no sculpture .... so we must therefore  conclude that the races of man which now inhabit Central Africa are unchanged from the prehistoric tribes who were the original inhabitants."   

And as late as 1923, less than 100 years ago, an historian (A. P. Newton) said that "Africa has practically no history before the coming of the European, since history only begins when men take to writing."

How could these people ignore the great (Arabic) written works of Islam which had spread west across Africa from the East African coast, and south from north Africa ?   What about the hieroglyphic writing in the Egyptian tombs ?   And when it comes to great architecture, there are the pyramids of Egypt and Sudan, the Great Zimbabwe ruins, places like Gedi on the Kenya coast ...

It is obvious that in the past, just as nowadays, people saw what they wanted to see, and not the truth; people had an agenda and made everything fit that agenda.   How we, the Europeans, misjudged and misunderstood Africa and the inhabitants of the land where man first appeared.

More from my 1830 book ...

Reading further than I had previously, I found this ...  it would seem that nearly 190 years ago, there was being voiced concern about the slaughter of elephants to satisfy demand for 'baubles'.  It's sad that nothing much has changed .... 

"In 1827, the customs upon elephants' teeth, the duty being 20s. per cwt, amounted to £3,257, exhibiting an importation of 364,784 lbs. In eleven years from 1788 to 1798, 18,914 cwt of ivory was imported, which shows an average annual importation of 192,579 lbs. The consumption, therefore, is either increased in Great Britain, or, from our possession of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, we are enabled to supply the demands of foreign nations.

The average weight of an elephant's tusk is about 60 lbs. To have produced, therefore, 364,784 lbs of ivory, the import of 1827, 6,080 tusks must have been procured. This fact assumes the annual slaughter of at least 3,040 elephants. The real havoc is much greater; Mr B. in his travels in Africa, met with some elephant hunters who had shot twelve elephants, which produced no more than 200 lbs weight of ivory, as all the animals except one, happened to be females. If anything like the same ill-luck, or want of skill, attended all the African elephant hunters, upwards of forty thousand of these animals would be annually slain to supply our demand for ivory baubles."

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A friend in Thailand who reads my blog regularly, noted my comment about illustrations and pictures of elephants from the past, were obviously done by artists who had never actually seen an elephant, and were working from a verbal description.   

He sent me this picture, which he took some time ago in Chester Cathedral !