Jumbo job for eco-tourists on 4,500 holiday ... moving elephants hundreds of miles to African sanctuary

Tourists are being given the chance to perform a jumbo conservation task by helping capture and move a herd of 70 of the animals to a new home in the wilds of south-eastern Africa.

All aboard: A sedated elephant is lowered on to the back of a truck to be relocated to the Majete Wildlife Reserve in southern Malawi

Gotcha: A sedated elephant being put ion to a truck before being relocated to the Majete Wildlife Reserve in southern Malawi

They will participate in rounding up the tuskers in Malawi's Liwonde National Park and Mangochi district, from where they will be transported to restock the Majete Wildlife Reserve in the south of the country.

The operation is necessary because a surplus of elephants in Mangochi has brought them into conflict with local villagers, whose farmland they are invading.

Tourists will help track the animals, subude them with tranquilliser darts and then load them on to trucks fitted with specially-designed trailers and cages. The whole group then follows the elephants down to Majete to see them naturalised into their new environment.

No way: A member of the team tries to persuade a reluctant young elephant to relocate to the Majete Wildlife Reserve

In you go: One of the sedated elephants is put in a van.

The six-day eco-holiday, organised by the South African company Exclusive Air Safaris in conjunction with the African Parks Foundation, costs around £4,530 per person - and includes accommodation in en-suite tents.

Malawi tourism spokesman Kelly White said the relocation scheme could be extended to include rhino and buffalo.

'The ultimate goal is to turn the Majete into a viable game and conservation park, where the animals are safe and the population sustainable.'

Round up: A helicopter and two trucks are used to corner one elephant

Captured: The elephants are knocked out using tranquillisers before being loaded up for transportation

And he's off: A sedated elephant is strapped down before being driven hundreds of miles

We did it: The triumphant team celebrates its success in moving elephants between the parks in June 2006