Meet the Indiana Jones of conservation

Now this is a story and a half. How a conservationist managed to, Indiana Jones-style, persuade a murderous rebel army in Uganda to stop killing the endangered white rhino.

Lawrence Anthony, founder of the South African environmental group the Earth Organisation, went alone to meet the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - the leaders of which are wanted for war crimes by the international criminal court. Colleagues told him he was crazy but the man had one goal in mind, to protect the rare rhino, of which there are only four left in the wild.

"The LRA is notorious for its use of child soldiers and has been accused of numerous atrocities including rapes, mutilations and the mass murder of civilians. Its 19-year fight has left tens of thousands of people dead and an estimated 2 million displaced. Conservation seemed far from its priorities - particularly after its members shot dead 12 of the park's game rangers and then eight Guatemalan UN soldiers sent to the region to keep order this year.

'It was a desperate, impossible situation,' Mr Anthony said. 'The UN then withdrew entirely from the area and the LRA de facto controlled the park. From that point on the fate of the rhino lay entirely in the hands of this rebel army. That was a conservation disaster. If this species goes extinct they will be the largest land mammal to die out since the woolly mammoth.'"

Read the full article here

David Adam, the Guardian's environment correspondent, told us the story in the office a while back and you couldn't move afterwards for gaping mouths at the story. It's hard to believe this sort of stuff happens outside very improbable Hollywood films starring the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme. I won't say any more, just read it and marvel at Lawrence Anthony's stunning bravery.