Heard of Bongoes?

G'day to you! Thanks for dropping out of cyberspace and landing in my virtual café. Oops! Careful of the coffeepot! Good to see you. Since you're over there by the coffee, pour yourself a mugful and snag a virtual doughnut while you're at it. Got a message from my pal Dr. Al that I'd like to share with you. Read on...

Dear Bob,

I have a photo of a bongo in my study at home.

I’m guessing it’s very likely you don’t know what a bongo is and maybe you don’t care. But before you make up your mind that it’s of no interest for you, let me tell you a short story.

As I get ready to visit Africa again, I’m looking forward to visiting bongo species of antelope that were hunted to extinction in the wild near the base of Mount Kenya.

A group I’ve been working with in Loxahatchee, just west of my office, called the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF), placed a group of bongos back into their native environment in Kenya a few years ago. And without the Conservatory, it’s possible you may never have seen or heard of a bongo antelope.

A bongo family with two of the newest babies born in Aberdares Conservation Area in Kenya.

My friend Paul R. Reillo, Ph.D., who is on the board of directors for my foundation, asked me to lend my support to RSCF, and I am pleased to be associated with them.

Paul used to be the Director of Conservation and Research for the Palm Beach Zoo. He has a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Maryland and B.S. in environmental engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. Then he got interested in conservation. He became the director of the Rare Species Conservatory, which raised money to buy 30 acres out in Loxahatchee.

They have monkeys and birds… in fact Paul’s been very involved in saving the rare Imperial Amazon Parrot in the Caribbean and others from South America.

But for the bongo project, they started with 18 of them. The Conservatory spearheaded the effort to bring the bongos to Kenya from across North America, gathering bongo from 13 zoos, including the San Diego Zoo and the Cincinnati Zoo.

The animals were quarantined for three months at the White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, FL. Then they were flown out of Jacksonville airport, with a brief stop in Atlanta for inspection by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Then the bongos flew on this big, military-contractor transport plane (DC-8) across the Atlantic to their native Kenya. After 44 hours, the bongos were released within a specially fenced habitat at the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, on the slopes of Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa.

And thanks to Paul and the staff of the Rare Species Conservatory, the bongos are making a comeback. They’ve been living there in this kind of semi-wild environment in the reserve for almost 10 years.

So far so good. I think the population is up to 80 or so, so they’re reproducing very well.

And there are more bongos still in Florida. The RSCF has expanded its breeding program to try and return even more bongos to Africa. You can visit their homepage and follow the bongos’ (and other rare animals’) progress, or donate to the cause: http://www.rarespecies.org. Any contribution is appreciated and is tax-deductible.

While I’m in Africa I also do a lot of work on conservation of another kind… conserving herbal and traditional healing knowledge. I’m hoping to play some small part in saving not only vanishing animals, but healing knowledge that will also vanish if we don’t do something about it.

In fact, let me give you an example of an herb that is important to both bongos and people.

It’s alfalfa. Alfalfa is extremely nutritious… it’s one of the richest sources of vitamins you can get from a plant, with high levels of vitamins B6, A, E and K. And alfalfa sprouts contain 150 percent more amino acids than corn or wheat.

It’s a good source of calcium, magnesium, chlorophyll, phosphorus, iron, potassium, trace minerals, and several digestive enzymes.

Also, it’s rare for a plant to have vitamin D, but there are about 267 IU of vitamin D in each ounce (1.25 cups) of alfalfa leaves.¹

All that nutrition has helped keep the bongos here in Florida alive and well, especially after the flooding rains of Hurricane Isaac a couple of years ago. But in addition to alfalfa’s nutritional value, you can also use it to improve your health in several ways.

Traditional herbalists long ago would say that it “cleanses the blood,” And they weren’t far off. Alfalfa helps detoxify your liver, through which all your blood flows.

Alfalfa can significantly raise your HDL cholesterol,² and you can also use it to relieve hay fever and asthma. It also boosts your immune system³ which is very helpful for preventing colds and flu in the winter.

You can eat alfalfa leaves raw in a sandwich or salad, or sauté them like spinach.

But I think the best way to prepare alfalfa leaves is to steam them in a basket above boiling water for about five minutes until they’re tender. They make a great side dish.

You can also take alfalfa extract as a supplement. Take as much as a gram a day, but divide it into two doses, and take it with food. Look for pure organic Medicago sativa (alfalfa’s scientific name) if you can find it.

To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD

See ya, eh!

Bob

PS: Alfalfa? now there's a little rascal for ya!