Ludwig seeks support for conservation projects

Wilshire Center's Larchmont Chronicle ( www.larchmontchronicle.com )
June 2000
By Jane Gilman

[photo by S. Woo] Preservation of the African environment is a goal of Bruce Ludwig and naturalist Cynthia Moss.

Bruce Ludwig's neighbors are elephants. Not in Hancock Park, where he and his wife Carolyn live, but on the Kenya ranch they own adjacent to the Amboseli National Park. The 300,000-acre ranch is home to 3,800 Masai families and herds of elephants who roam undisturbed.

"The Masai are pastoral people, but they are no longer self-sufficient," he says. "Their way of life is compatible with preserving wildlife."

Ludwig is on a mission to help both the Masai and the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. [Ludwig serves on the Amboseli Trust for Elephants Board.] He recently introduced Cynthia Moss, the director of the project, to several dozen of his friends. He is seeking supporters for the program she started almost 30 years ago. Moss has documented data on elephant social behavior, reproduction, intelligence and communication.

Amboseli elephants comprise one of the few remaining undisturbed elephant populations. Ludwig and Moss see the research project as a way to create a microcosm of Africa as it was 200 years ago. Conservation of Africa's wildlife and the Masai way of life is their mutual goal.

The 0l Donyo Wuas Ranch serves as an exclusive resort, with guests' fees funding the building of schools and medical clinics for the Masai. Ludwig has financed building two schools for the tribe's youngsters. He has been instrumental in reforestation projects and discovering water sources.

The real estate investor calls Moss "the last of the great lady naturalists." She was the subject of a Time magazine article on "Heroes for the Planet." Support for her project is available in several ways. For $5,000 a donor can name an elephant and receive updates on its growth. Moss' book, "Elephant Memories," documents her years of study and is also a fund-raiser.

A two-week safari tour in February 2001 will include a two-day visit with Moss and introductions to her elephant family in Amboseli Park; a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro on an exclusive trail limited to safari members; a visit to the Indian Ocean and the famed Hemingway's Resort. [For information about the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, see www.elephanttrust.org. For information about the African Wildlife Foundation see www.awf.org or call 888-4-WILDLIFE.]