The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

by Lawrence Anthony

biltong,

kamikaze

amakhosi

there is no dignity in the bush.

The wilderness seethes with life as the nocturnal creatures scurry out from holes and trees and crevasses, brave in the knowledge that

most predators are resting.

Living rough in the wilderness is a salve for the soul. Ancient instincts awaken; forgotten skills are relearned, consciousness is sharpened and life thrums

at a richer tempo.

It’s bad bush practice to keep a light on continuously as light attracts insects, insects attract frogs, and frogs attract snakes.

This was the eons-old elephant way; herds are fiercely feminized and once a male approaches puberty he is evicted. This is nature’s way of scattering its seed otherwise all herds would be interbred.

Eventually Nana ambled over to the gate and tested the space with her trunk for some invisible impediment.

During the twenty-year war between northern and southern Sudan elephants were being slaughtered both for ivory and meat and so large

numbers migrated to Kenya for safety. Within days of the final ceasefire being signed, the elephants left their adopted residence en masse and trekked the hundreds of miles

back home to Sudan. How they knew that their home range was now safe is just another indication of the incredible abi...

They loved the heat

pinging off the engine, especially if the weather was cold, and would rest their trunks on the hood for long periods.

Such is Africa, the flawed, beautiful, magnificent, beguiling, mystical, unique, life-changing continent

. . . its seductive charm and charisma, its ancient wisdom so often stained by unfathomable spasms of blood.

In a lightning blur of dappled gold, a large male leopard came out of the shrub and bolted. If it had come at us from that distance it would have been a nightmare, but

going the other way he was poetry in motion, one of nature’s most stunningly beautiful creations.

Every wild thing is in tune with its surroundings, awake to its fate and in absolute harmony with the planet. Their attention is focused totally outwards. Humans, on the other hand, tend to focus introspectively on their own lives too often, brooding and magnifying problems that the animal kingdom would not waste a millisecond of energy upon. To most people, the magnificent order of the natural world where life and death actually mean something has become unrecognizable.

One, a lifelong teetotaller, gulped down three double whiskies before uttering a word.

They saw how their mother and aunt treated me, and in return, they accorded me the respect one would give to a distinguished relative.

But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves.