[ECO]: Easy Ways To Go Green in 2016

With 2016  rocking and rolling for everyone already, what's a better time to start being green than now? 

While going green is a process, these are a few easy steps you can take on your journey of being more eco-friendly. 

♥ Switch your light bulbs to energy saving Compact fluorescent lightbulbs - they use about one 1/3 of electricity and last 10 times longer.

♥ Switch off wall sockets when not in use as they draw a lot of "phantom/vampire" energy while not in use.

♥ Stepping away from your computer for more than 20 minutes? Switch it to "sleep mode" and make sure to power off at the end of the day.

♥ Switch off the tap while brushing your teeth and make sure to have leaking taps fixed.

♥ Plant a tree

♥Start your own vegetable garden

♥  Print on both sides of paper and try go as electronic as possible in terms of documents etc

♥ When buying new beauty products, do your research to find out whether they are cruelty-free or not

♥ Buy local foods, this provides jobs for your community and saves on transport costs.

♥ RECYCLE - REUSE - REDUCE

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The Lilayi Elephant Nursery

The Elephant Orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia

 

 

Hi friends,

 

During my last trip to Zambia, I got to spend some time in Lusaka (I usually head straight down to the Zambezi River after I've landed in Lusaka) and popped in at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery which is situated at Lilayi Lodge. I had been dying to go and see the elephants so I was thrilled that I finally got a chance to visit them. Next time I manage to squeeze in a Lusaka visit I hope to have lunch at the restaurant at Lilayi Lodge, how fabulous does it look?

 

 

  

The Lilayi Elephant Nursery is managed by Game Rangers International and is home to rescued elephant calves. Here they are cared for, looked after, rehabilitated and receive huge amounts of love before they are taken to the Kafue Release Facility  and released where they are with wild elephants in the Kafue National Park.

 

When I was there in the beginning of September there were 4 baby elephants. At a certain time each morning you can stand on the viewing deck and watch the elephants receive their milk bottles. One of the cutest things I've ever seen, was watching these babies run to the pen to get their milk bottles. They finish a 2l bottle of milk in 5 seconds!

Here are some photos:

 

 All of these babies that are in the orphanage have sad and tragic stories that just break your heart. Like Suni, she was 8 months old when she was found - poachers had attacked her mother and when she tried to defend her mother she was attacked with an axe on her spine! This paralysed her back right leg. She had intense nerve damage but thanks to the dedication and love from the elephant nursery who massaged her, treated her with acupuncture and developed a brace for her she can now walk! How amazing is that!

 

You can meet the rest of the Lilayi babies here, Nkala (the smallest one) is my favourite <3

 

A very, very big THANK YOU to everyone that supports this amazing organisation from those donate, to those that work with the elephants - you are all so wonderful!

I'm busy with an exciting new project that will offer you a chance to help out - look out for details about it soon!

 

 

For more information about the elephant orphanage, click here.

 

 

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx



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VIDEO: Some Easy Tips on Going Green ♥

A New YouTube Video is Up...

 



Hi friends!

 

I have a new video up on my YouTube Channel - it's a short one where I just share a few of my tips on going green. I will be filming more soon where I will explain a few more tips!

 

Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

 



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GGG Tip: Save Electricity

How To Have A Greener Winter

Image: Source

Hi friends!

Eeeek with this cold front it's hard to stay warm but unfortunately here in South Africa, the demand for electricity is sometimes too much for Eskom to keep up and we suffer from the dreaded load shedding! I found this handy little infographic that was posted on Hotel Verde's timeline and some of these can definitely help save electricity! I have read though that gas heaters are more eco friendly that electrical heaters!

Hope these tips help you stay nice and toasty!

Keep warm friends!

Love always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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Miss Earth: Updates & Thank You's

What I've Been Busy With, Plus a Few Thank You's

Hi everyone!

Wow, what a crazy 10 weeks it's been! I've loved every minute though! Felt so good doing what I'm passionate about! 

I wanted to share with you some of the projects that I did during the semi-finals of Miss Earth South Africa - most of you have been keeping up with all my events via my personal twitter and Instagram accounts but here are a few links to what I've been up to lately:

One of my first projects as a semi-finalist was to attend a hospital drive in Soweto for the Easter weekend but I was away with family and friends in Zambia so I decided to hand out Easter eggs to some of the kids along the Zambezi River, you can read more about that here.

Next up, I planted a small vegetable garden at a nursery school in Pretoria. I had such a great day with the kids, they were all so cute and so eager to learn! You can read more about that here.

From the beginning of my Miss Earth journey, I mentioned that I would be collecting gently used clothing and non-perishable food for the Jacaranda Children's Home. I also got a few of my beauty blogging friends to donate some of their beauty products that they weren't using. I was so overwhelmed with all that I received! One whole room in my house was filled with donations! Here is the link for that project. 

I live in a beautiful estate in Pretoria that even has a game reserve in the one section so I knew when I had to my tree planting, I wanted to do it close to home. Have a look at this post to see what this area is all about. 

As my last project as a semi-finalist, I donated food; blankets and jackets to the SPCA in Watloo, Pretoria. I'm a huge animal lover and it was important to me to make sure the animals had blankets and food to keep them happy during the winter. Here is where you can read more. 

And now for the acknowledgments of donations:

Main Sponsor: 

Jesper Kjøller from Ess-Foods

Jacaranda Children's Home Donations:

Sylvia Taylor-Memmory

Irina Domanchuk

Verushka Ramasami

Leanne

Ali Graaff

Hildegarde Koen

Chicara Joubert

Mairi Yates

Heidi Taylor

Alyssa Koorts

Vegetable Garden Donations:

Dolores Grundlingh

Tree Planting Donation:

Jesper Kjøller from Ess-Foods

SPCA Donations:

Alyssa Koorts

Chicara Joubert & Family

Dolores Grundlingh

Stationery Packs:

Dolores Grundlingh

Hessian Bag Sales:

Sylvia Taylor-Memmory

Dicky Bosma

Amy Giliam 

Caron Giliam

Anne Giliam

Dolores Grundlingh

A very BIG Thank You to you all! You son't know how much I appreciate all the wonderful donations!

Another big Thank You goes to each and everyone of you that has been supporting me every step of the way! You are the BEST!

Here are some photos from the events:

You all rock my world and thank you for allowing me the opportunity of spreading the green love ♡

Love always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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GGG Tip: Easy Ways To Go Green

A Few Simple Tips

Hi there my green darlings!

It's a new month, a new week and it's National Environmental week here in South Africa! So what better time to start making changes in your lifestyle to become more green!

Here are a few tips on how to play your part in saving the environment:

♡ Switch off all lights before leaving the house

♡ Unplug all unnecessary electrical appliances when not in use ~ After I've done my hair in the morning, I always switch off the plug that I use for my hair styling tools, every little bit helps!

♡ Unplug your cellphone charger when you're not using it

♡ Reuse magazines & newspaper as wrapping paper

♡ Switch off the tap when brushing your teeth

♡ Try cut your shower time by 1 minute, you will save 3300 litres of water a year

♡ Wait until your dishwasher is fully loaded before running it

♡ Need a new light bulb? Replace it with a compact fluorescent bulb

♡ Buy local - food, clothes, beauty products etc

♡ Love to buy a coffee every morning? Take your own cup!

♡ Donate your unwanted clothes to a charity or organise a clothes swap with friends

♡ Choose paper less billing for your accounts

♡ Find out about recycling collections in your area and start a recycling program at home

♡ Change a small area of your garden to a vegetable garden and grow your own food

♡ Support brands that are cruelty free

Not too hard right?

Lets GO GREEN!

Let me know what tips you have for going green?

Love always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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ZAMBIA: April 2014

Easter Weekend in Zambia

April 2014

Hi everyone!

Sorry that my blog has been so quiet - I was up in Zambia for the Easter weekend and since I got back it's been go; go; gooooo and I can't seem to find the snooze button? Not that I'm complaining, I love being busy! Don't you agree?

So for the Easter weekend I went up to Zambia again (here's the link to my trip in March) with my family and friends. We stayed at a different lodge to where we usually stay and I loved it! It's a lodge called Gwabi River Lodge and is situated on the Kafue River which runs into the Zambezi River (it's about 6km from the Zambezi River). We also got to see a lot of our friends that live in Zambia so it was definitely a winner of a weekend!

Here are some of my photos from the trip:

The sunset on our first night

A local fisherman reuses plastic bottles as a fishing technique.

I managed to catch a 4kg Tiger Fish, the biggest fish I've ever caught! YAY! Like I've mentioned before, on the Zambian side of the Zambezi River it's catch and release so this big boy was set free back in the water as soon as I had taken the photo and weighed him.

On the Saturday, we stopped off on an island in the middle of the river (first checked to see that there weren't any animals having a picnic there) and had a braai under the beautiful trees. It was so cool having the island to ourselves.

Definitely one of my favourite shots from the weekend!

Found this wild cucumber while I was walking around the island

I think this will be one of our new hot spots for lunch!

A beautiful elephant family we passed by, how cute are the babies?

As part of my Miss Earth South Africa initiative (more info on that coming soon) I spent Easter Sunday sharing the Miss Earth love by dropping off some Easter eggs at a village in Jordan, Zambia. To see those smiles on those kids faces was just too precious!

At Gwabi River Lodge they are busy cultivating saplings of indigenous trees as their way of offsetting their carbon footprint and to help stop the deforestation that's occurring in Zambia *Go Gwabi!*

Another reason why I love Gwabi is because of their cool natural water filtration system! As a lodge they are certainly playing their part to help the environment!

Those that follow me on instagram would have seen this photo that I posted last night. It's one of my favourite trees along the Zambezi River and I always manage to capture a great shot of it (this hasn't even been edited!). 

All in all, it was another successful trip to Zambia and I cannot wait to return soon!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my latest trip - comment below :)

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