National Geographic UK - 10.2019

A Kenyan student mod-

els a mask during a visit

to her school by the

Twiga Walinzi—Giraffe

Guards—a conserva-

tion team whose work

includes teaching pupils

about giraffes in hopes

the children will help

protect the species.

While Morkel lets fly a string of expletives,

the team of vets and rangers take blood samples

and inject syringefuls of vitamin E, antibiotics,

and an anti-inflammatory drug. They take the

giraffe’s temperature and measurements and cut

off an ear tip for later DNA testing.

No sooner have they wrapped a rope around

her torso than the animal awakens and kicks

wildly, spraying peach-colored sand into the

air. Morkel delivers a slap on her rear end and

she shoots up, blind and deaf, to be guided by a

rope into the back of a trailer, in which she’ll be

driven to a large enclosure made of eucalyptus

poles and thatching.

Five more giraffes are standing by, intently

observing from their perch high above us, not

30 yards away. Two of them chew their cud, roll-

ing a bolus between their teeth. Farther in the

distance a pair of young Zarma herders, with

their flock of goats, lean against a tree, watch-

ing as well. The whole frenzied chase has the

feeling of a mobster hit gone awry, or perhaps

an alien abduction.

AFTER THREE WEEKS getting accustomed to life

in an enclosure, the giraffes that will recolonize

Gadabedji are ready for transport. At about

11 a.m. on a Sunday, the first four giraffes are

guided into a 20-foot shipping container that

has been painted white and had its roof cut off.

The floor is packed with wet sand for the animals

to stand on and has poles fastened all along the

edges to hang leaves as an in-transit snack. It’s

crucial that the giraffes stay calm during the trip.

Weeks earlier the team lost an overexcited ani-

mal that slipped and knocked its head against

the trailer and later died.

Led by a spotter vehicle that looks out for elec-

trical wires that could decapitate the precious

cargo, the truck sets off at a 10-mile-an-hour

crawl for Gadabedji, some 500 miles away.

Four curious giraffe heads poking above the

trailer watch a parade of sights they’ve never

encountered before: men getting haircuts by

the side of the road, butchered goats hanging

from poles, and small white mosques over-

flowing with prostrate men. We drive past a

camel-driving Tuareg herder, a cattle market

filled with mangy long-horned bulls, women in

hijabs who smile and point, and quite a few peo-

ple who don’t even look up to notice the strangest

cargo ever to blow through their village.

Forty-seven hours later, having stopped only

ONCE THE DRUGGED

GIRAFFE WAS GIVEN

AN ANTIDOTE,

THE RELOCATION CREW

WOULD HAVE ONLY TWO

MINUTES TO RESTRAIN AND

TAKE SAMPLES FROM HER.

112 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC