AFTER 22 months of waiting, a large and rather important package has finally arrived at Port Lympne. Baby Sittang is the eighth Asian elephant to be bred at the wild animal park in Lympne.

Under the watchful eye of his mother, Kjhaing Phyo Phyo, the two-week old calf took his first steps in his new sand paddock.

His 23-year-old mother came to Port Lympne from Rotterdam Zoo four years ago. Sittang, named after a river on the Burmese-Indian border is the first calf of father Luka, originally from a zoo in the Czech Republic. He weighed 230 pounds and was 33 inches tall when he was born on June 30.

There are now only 30,000 Asian elephants left in the world. A spokesman for Port Lympne said: "Port Lympne's breeding herd of 14 is a crucial source acting as a backbone to the declining world population of Asian elephants."