 Tell me you try so okay just no no I will never try trust me please never I'm sorry never Where do you get a snake from we find them no more we find them locally around Okay, let me just stand somewhere. No, no, I can do the interview from here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very sure my trip in Malawi has been one of the most exciting trips across Africa because the people that are meeting every single day Surprises me. I mean look behind me This is a track for game drive But I mean will you say there's a game drive right behind me? No, this is a young man who is keeping game animals with him and it's so exciting to see that He has created something that never exists in this whole community And I guess it's something that Empowers the people around because it's going to employ people It's something that is going to educate young kids because they have never seen anything like this And if you don't know that game drive in Africa is one of the most expensive things to do Just google it, but he is bringing it closer to death I don't you're excited to see I'm just going to call him the animal man or the game man Yeah, my name is Rashid Gelu the owner of Ara and Elfams Yeah, located here in the long way along the Bundal Mitundu Road in Malawi Yeah Ara and Elfam is a place where we're breeding birds, ostriches, peacocks, those are exotic birds And we're also doing animals like a game ranch We have zebras, impalas, sables, water bugs. So you wake up every morning? Every morning look at the birds look at the animals the snakes and everything in my heart is like wow This is what I this is what I want Hi, how are you? I'm not fine. Why how about you? I'm perfect You are you sure you live with animals? Yes, I live with animals here right on the right You have snakes there? We have snakes. Oh god Snakes you live with snakes Which which kind of snake? Oh, we've got python Jesus Christ You want to see them? Of course I want to see them But I really want to know why you keep in these animals We're trying to protect the world like the world animals. Okay. Yeah So we're trying to protect them from the locals so that we also educate them That we should tell them that they're not very dangerous You can live with them Wow, yeah Listen, how did this start? You decided to just wake up one day just to live with animals Actually, it has been a hobby ever since I was a child I've had a passion of animals and birds I've seen so many passions, but I've never seen this one before maybe My own is passion fruit, but it's a passion for animals Yeah So this whole enclave is where you keep them? Yes, I'm also staying there Do you live here with them? Yes So you wake up every morning every morning look at the birds look at the animals the snakes and everything Then in my heart is like wow. This is what I this is what I want You're creating your own paradise. Yes, but people were not thinking you're crazy for keeping animals come with me Yeah, actually others were thinking that I'm crazy Especially maybe some of my family members They didn't like the idea because when I was young I used to keep rabbits Monkeys so they were like no, we don't want this sometimes they'll throw them away But now they realize that this is what he has always dreamed about. This is what he wants. So That's what I'm doing. How do you feel seeing your childhood dream becoming a reality? I thank god because that's what I've always dreamed of See and it's sexy When you say somebody keep animals Some of us keep goats in our houses. Some of us keep Chickens in our houses, but what kind of animals are you keeping? We're keeping zebras impalas sables water bugs. We've got different types of birds like ostriches and Emu's peacocks love birds parrots, and they like I love snakes and reptiles. I don't I don't want to hear the snakes You know, I love I love going to the zoo. Yeah, and anytime I go to the zoo They will tell us to walk around just to see the animals. Yes You've got a truck. Yeah, we've got a game drive. How? Okay, there are some sometimes we get them Other customers or other people that they're not able to walk like for example if Someone is very old So that's why we provide a game drive for them. They can go through the park They see the animals and the birds that they want. So they're always happy So which means it's it's a huge land for you to be able to drive in there. Yeah, we've got about 115 acres That's a national park No You're creating a whole national park in your house. Yes So this is a entry. Okay. Yeah, so we're just still doing it. We have not yet finished So we're still building up How long did it take you to come up with this structure? Less than three years Less than three years. Yeah So is it open for the public? Yeah, the public is coming like It's open for the public, but at first it was just for me my family and friends So we have opened it like I think it's like two years now. Okay. Yeah, what did you open to the public? because First we need to educate them. We need to encourage them. They should know the the benefits of animals not that You know In Africa especially whenever you see a daika all you think of is It's something like you can eat it's food. You need to put in a pot. So we are trying to encourage them We're trying to encourage them so that at least we can see like other countries. They're keeping animals I feel like this guy is talking to me. So in Malawi, we are still behind I feel like this guy is talking to me. Let me tell you something in Ghana. You can't even find a single game animal You know what we've eaten all of them So we're trying to keep them now I'm now an ambassador for game animals in Ghana henceforth. We will never touch game animals in Ghana So Here we've just put up now we've got some fish Yeah, so we didn't want to waste so we're trying to put everything at use So we've got some fingerings inside there And then we've just built up an aquarium Okay. Yeah, we've got some fish and uh Tattoos inside just I think because they have gone down because this is about 8 000 liters Wow Yeah So you can come in and is it affordable for everyone? Yeah, because uh, our price is like for a child is 2 000 kwacha. Okay. Yeah for an adult is 4 000 kwacha Game drive is 2 000 kwacha per child per adult and 500 kwacha per child Yeah, so I think that's affordable because comparing with other places. I've seen the prices are very high So we're trying to at least anyone can afford Yeah, that's very important. And we've got some other like The locals they do which we do charge them 500 kwacha because you know, we want them to come Yeah So this is a bird section. We have different types of birds this area Yeah, and the animals on the other side. So birds will cage the birds so that At least people it's easy for someone to see them. This is the Ugandan crane, right? Yes, that's a Ugandan crane. You keep in Ugandan crane. Yes, Mr. Benny will come for you man No, no, no That's a national animal in Uganda. Yeah, I mean you are giving Malawians the chance to see the national animal of Uganda. Yeah, that's incredible Ugandans in the house. Let me know what you think in the comment section No, I have so many fans from Uganda. Wow. Yeah, so I mean they'll be happy to see that Yeah, they should come and see that national animal is here. Yes So this section is for birds like you can see we've got different types of ducks Yeah, we've got the pecking ducks, kaki cambells, geese And the mascavies Are people not scared of you? No They're not scared. But actually at first when I came You know, others used to say no, it's a satanic. It's a satanic word, you know things Whenever you're trying to do something nice, everyone gives gives you different types of names But for me some okay with it because I'm not doing that. This is what you enjoy doing. Yeah Yeah, it's there on the corner Jeez, now it's here. Why are you shouting? Man, that was so scary What are you doing? I'm trying to get the head. The head. The head. Yeah, please let it rest. Are you sure? No, I'm very modern. Oh, you want to hold it? Yeah. How now? So I'm looking for the head Ha, ha. Did you see what? Ha Did you see what? You why are you running away? God no He grabbed it Jesus Christ. No No Jeez, man. Why are you holding a snake, bro? I told you I live with snakes No So cold. No, no, no. The weight's moving. No, no, no. This guy lives with animals, man It's like Malawi got everything. They got people building their own land They got people building their own lake. They got people that live with animals. Jeez, that's a python, bro Cheese No, no, no, no. Just come and try touching her. No, no, no Even a dead one, I would never try cheese, man Never. Where do you get the snakes from? We find them, normally we find them locally Around? Yeah, around. Okay. Let me just stand somewhere. No, no, no. I can't do the interview from here. No, are you sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very sure. Okay. Normally like sometimes we get a call from the locals Okay, but they found a python in the cage or maybe in one of the chicken frozen Yeah, when they call me and then I go there I tell them not to kill them Then I try to rescue them and sometimes we release them in the forest Oh, okay. Like there's another one which we got it from the locals It was found in a chicken cage So it killed the chicken then they called me and said no, we've got a python here We're trying to kill it. So I said no, don't kill it. Then I had to rush to the villages I found it was dated like eaten a very big chicken So I said, okay, can I try grabbing it? I said if you can do that You know, it's okay. So I had to I had to protect it. I went there. I got a very big stick I had to put a rope Then I grabbed it by the neck then I pulled it out. I had to pay for the chicken Then we brought it here but it has been here for about three four months now Yeah, so like most of the snakes you've seen there we're getting them from this farm Because the first time we are like extending the farm we had a lot of snakes by the bamboos there Yeah, so, you know, they would always spare us. We'll say we're getting freaked if we see a snake So I was like no a snake is something that it needs It's it's a must for it to stay here. We have come all the way from town to come stay in the bushes So we have to protect them. So what I normally do is I invite sometimes the locals I try to teach them the goodness of snakes Tell them that snakes are always there. They can just because if you see a snake you to always run away Because it's try to protect yourself Geez That's a python. Yeah, how old is this one? Do you know? No, I know you have no idea. You're just protecting them Yeah, just trying to protect them Just come and try touching me. It was falling man. Did you guys see it? Just come and try Ah, no, no, no, it's okay. I'm done. I'm done. This is the animal man from Malawi Is that that's bamboo right? Yeah, it's bamboo, but it looks so close It's closed. Yeah, because we have some animals coming in next month Okay Yeah, so what we normally do is when we have new animals coming in we put them in a bomber Like just an enclosure so that when they come they should be like free from the noise Until they get used to the environment. Oh, okay. Yeah, so we have closed about two acres But there's bamboo. So we've just closed when the animals come we'll put the animals inside Yeah, that is a dam we did a dam we started digging last year So we've just pumped out all the water because we want to dig it down deeper because We dug one meter, but we had water So we want to go at least maybe three meters deep and we want to dig it more We can have at least maybe three acres of a very big dam So that the animals yeah, the animals can go there we can put up some like Summer huts people can watch the the water and everything. Yeah, we'll try to build up some shallots facing the the dam This one I can see them Not the python Where are they going? It's just in each other You know try I'm not tall bro. You're no just try putting your hand even like this. You don't want my food, man Try there. Yeah. Hey, take my own take my own Oh, wow No, but I'm giving you the leaves now. Why you want my hand? We'll just try giving them no one do anything No, I'm just like thinking about the no no Wow Why you keep distance man, you just love it. We just love them. I love birds I want people to come closer to animals and birds They should learn and experience and love the birds. Does this speak english? Hey, how are you? How do people perceive? This hobby of yours? Um, you know, sometimes I get different questions. Why doing this? um How do you manage because uh If I say for example Yeah, if someone has to come today says I want to do this business Uh, it's not everyone who's going to succeed because I have a passion for this. Let's say for example you buy an ostrich at maybe $1,000 You take it home. It dies How would you feel if you're like you've just wasted that money? But for me if an animal dies or a bird dies, I take it no more Is it because it's part of nature So I still I'm still encouraging others. They should venture into this They should be risk takers Was it difficult getting the permit? No, it's not because like for the for the animals You need to like here. We have our department Before you do anything you you go there you approach them you explain what you want to do Then they come they access the land. They say okay if the land is suitable for the animals Is it suitable for whatever you want to do then they give you a permit Yeah Wow, what has been the major challenge setting this up? We do have some challenges that Like Maybe getting on the land Some of it was an issue because I was buying from the locals. I wasn't buying from like one place. So it's just like slowly slowly Yeah, so Whatever i'm doing. I've never taken a bank loan. Yeah, this is my hard-earning money I go all the way to Zambia Tanzania buy birds buy eggs. We sell the profit that I get is on which I'm Pumping here. I've never taken any grant Oh, it's the main thing is I think say it's financial because Whatever you see as you can see that we're still building up We've started building like the charlots The little money that I'm making and the little money that I'm done They sell birds and everything the one which is I'm doing the charlots But if the government can help in any other way or if there's anyone Who is willing to help or really appreciate? And we have a lot of employees I think more than 50. So once We finish the charlots. I know I'm gonna employ someone else We have got a lot of projects which we want to put here. So I know those things We help the government by employing other people. So we've got a lot of people out there Who are just staying dormant. They're not working. They're just staying. So I'm sure if We have I have help like we manage to do those projects. I think It can it can work. I can really appreciate on that My plan is if we can Have a very big game ranch And have all the types of animals that we have so that We can have like we can teach everyone The goodness of animals and birds they should learn Yeah, that's My dream to have to own a very big game ranch Did you actually learn this in school? No, I studied computer engineering And people they didn't think you're crazy just Yeah others Thought because when I was a child I know because I was a problem because you see I would go in the bush I was looking for monkeys You see I was keeping rabbits keeping those white rats You would find maybe my aunties you say why are you keeping this? They take they throw them away But I was still going there. I come them. They hit me. They whip me. They do this sort of things But I was still doing it. So now that's when others they say, you know what If we knew that you this is what you wanted. I think would have just supported you Yeah, the beginning. Yeah, because that's what I wanted. That's what I've always dreamed about Like 10 years from now, I think We are going to have a very nice beautiful place that Will have visitors from outside the countries They'll come spend the night here. They can look at the animals Enjoy the view the boondah mountain view You know the warm heart of Africa. So Guys out there, you're all welcome. You can come to Malawi We have our facebook page. It's written R and L game range. You can just search it or you can google You'll find in everything there or all the informations you can find them there I want to say you're amazing. Thank you so much for talking to me, but I want to touch the python It's okay. It's okay It's okay