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mode de vie fit shanna elephants conservation

Let me tell you guys how excited posts like this get me!!!!!!

I mean seriously… who doesn’t want to throw some money the way of elephant conservation while enjoying a sexy liqueur? They’re some of the most gorgeous, kind, intelligent animals on the planet!

Elephants & Marula…

My little sister first introduced me to Amarula. She brought some home for us from her recent trip to South Africa. I laughed when she told me the elephants get drunk off of eating the Marula tree fruits. Upon doing my blog research I am happy to report that yes, she was correct. Elephants and other South African mammals enjoy these fruits and are often seen “behaving oddly” near the Marula trees. HA HA.

The fruit ripens only once a year. It’s easy to tell because the elephants and other mammals travel vast distances to get a taste! South African legend says the Marula fruit has aphrodisiac properties and is featured in tribal fertility rites. The natives call these trees “The Elephant Trees.”

Marula trees can be dated back as far as 10,000 BC! Crazy, huh? The brown seed inside each Marula fruit protects its oil-rich kernels which are an essential source of nutrition and have anti-oxidant as well as moisturizing properties. They even contain four times more vitamin C than the actual orange. Too bad we can’t plant some Marula trees here- I’d be juicing every day!

Probably not driving tho, HA.

Amarula…

Incase you are curious, I will give you the low down on how Amarula is made. The fruit’s pulp is fermented like wine and distilled in aged French oak barrels for a minimum of two years. Spices of vanilla and toast are naturally imparted. Dairy cream is infused to give the Amarula its creamy texture in the Amarula Cream version and in the Amarula Gold Marula is double-distilled but without the cream. Obviously I prefer the non cream Gold version to stay away from dairy (not that I haven’t tried and died for the Amarula Cream version).

Conservation…

In 2010, the non-profit making Amarula Trust was formalized with the goal of promoting conservation, sustaining communities and combating unemployment in Southern Africa. Backed by Amarula Cream, The Amarula Trust continues to provide conservation aide all over Africa.

This year the Amarula Trust is working with students (all on scholarship given by The Amarula Trust), training them in Namibia to become qualified guides. The coursework these students are being given teaches them how to transfer their knowledge to tourists in a fun, interactive and informative manner. Providing education to the locals is reducing unemployment and spreading knowledge about the importance of conservation in Africa to both locals and foreigners!

Backtracking a bit, in 2012 Amarula Cream teamed up with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and donated $1.00 to the WCS from every bottle sold to help fight elephant poaching. Yes folks, there’s still a large demand for ivory unfortunately or the poachers would be forced to quit. 🙁 Sadly, they are getting worse.

And last year, Amarula teamed up with Swiss chocolatier Golden to create Amarula-filled chocolate bars to raise more funds for the Amarula Trust.

Did I give you guys enough reasons to go online and order yourselves some Amarula Cream or Amarula Gold? I’d say my post gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “conservative drinking” LOL.

After finishing this post I think I’ll order myself a few bottles of Amarula Gold and play with some healthy recipes for you guys! Check out the Amarula link for drink, pasta and dessert recipes. I’ve modified a few of them to be dairy free so check those out on my recipe blogs too!

And please please please! If you have any neat food, drink, fashion or other items that benefit a conservation project or animal please let me know. I’ll totally research it to bring you a nice little blog post about how you can incorporate it into your daily “mode de vie.”

xx Shanna

 

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