Elephant Troop - Photo by Siobhan Gunning

Elephants remember. They recall who they met decades ago. They form long-term relationships. They experience the full gamut of emotions that humans do. Love. Loss. Joy. Sadness. And everything in between. Their capacity to bond and take care of each other is astounding. So for me, it is always wonderful, when staying at the Nambiti Hills Private Game Lodge, to either pass a herd of elephants on the way there, or to see the elephants on one of our game drives. The last time I was at Nambiti, there were a whole lot of mothers and their youngsters crossing the river below us. Calling to each other. Trumpeting in their unique way. Sticking together.

Even though these elephants have been relocated, it’s wonderful to see how well they have adjusted to Nambiti Private Game Reserve and how fantastically they get along together. They are free to roam and live the wild life to which they were born.

Whilst I have always known about this magnificent bond between elephants, it hit home even more when my partner recently showed me a video that’s been circulating the Internet. You may have seen it. It shows two circus elephants who were separated 20 years ago and then, by some strange quirk of fate, reunited. The overwhelming display of love and happiness between these two elephants who can now live out their final years together brought me to tears, as I suspect it will do to you too.

May we all learn to respect these magnificent creatures and keep them in their natural environment where their performances are of their own volition and for the amusement of each other.

- Siobhan, writer, wildlife enthusiast.

Elephant Calf - Photo by Clinton Friedman

I was saddened by the recent news of the passing of the famous elephant whisperer Lawrence Anthony. The last person to mention this famous South African conservationist to me was a lady I met at the Nambiti Hills Game Lodge. She was from Germany and had spent some time at Lawrence Anthony’s Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. That’s the great thing about Nambiti Hills, you get to meet the other guests, even if you’re just staying for one night. Chance encounters like these always lead to interesting conversations and new discoveries.

Now, I had of course heard of Lawrence Anthony and his claim to be an elephant whisperer definitely sparked my interest, but meeting someone who had spent time with him brought me several degrees closer to wanting to meet the man. If memory serves me correctly, Joe the tracker and game guide at Nambiti Hills also knew The Elephant Whisperer as he had worked at or near Thula Thula.

The Elephant Whisperer, Lawrence Anthony

More elephants have, as you know, recently been introduced into the Nambiti Private Game Reserve and it is going to be fascinating to chronicle how they adapt to their new home. It is not always an easy process.

In the case of Lawrence Anthony, he adopted a herd of rogue elephants that the wildlife authorities were wanting to destroy. To quote one of the reviewers of Anthony’s acclaimed book, The Elephant Whisperer: In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

According to Lawrence Anthony’s son, the elephants had not been close to their house for one and half years but, soon after the death of The Elephant Whisperer, the herd made the journey to the Anthony’s home to pay their last respects. In my mind, there is nothing more pure or touching than a respectful and loving relationship between man and animal. Next time you are at the Nambiti Gane Reserve (or any other game reserve for that matter), you might want to try a little elephant whispering yourself – who knows, they might hear you and whisper or trumpet back.

- Siobhan Gunning, writer and wildlife enthusiast

Elephant Feeding - Photo by Breandan McKibbin

Recently I had the privilege of sitting with guests at a sighting of a big bull elephant. “Beefy”, we call him

We watched for over twenty minutes while he slowly moved through the bush feeding on sweet thorn trees. After a while, he decided he wanted something more entertaining to do and started walking up to the smaller trees and, with what seemed to be no effort at all, wrapped his trunk and his left tusk (the right tusk has been broken off for some years now) through and around the tree, and pulled it right out of the ground, roots and all.

It was a very nice way to see and learn how these amazing giants utilize their strength and use that incredible trunk to gather food and pull up trees, if necessary, to get to the roots where there is more moisture and sometimes food.

While he was busy with his breakfast I managed to get this photo of him, which clearly shows how he accomplished this feat, where even a cable and a Land Rover might have failed.

- Breandan McKibbin, Game Guide, Nambiti Hills Private Game Reserve

It’s a cold night at Nambiti Hills Private Game Lodge. The fires are blazing in the lounge and guests are gathering around the bar or cosying up on the couches. Some of us have come back from the evening game drive, others either arrived to late at the lodge or opted to spend some private time in the comfort of the boutique suites from where one can gaze out across the Nambiti Private Game Reserve. Beautiful!

A sense of anticipation is in the air. That’s because dinner will soon be served. For those of us fortunate enough to have been to Nambiti Hills before, we know we’re in for treat. Besides, strangely, sitting in a Land Rover for a few hours whilst exploring the reserve builds an appetite. Maybe it’s because of the brisk cold air, or the extreme concentration it takes to try and be the first to spot a lion or cheetah or elephant, or the sheer excitement that surges through you when you do come across one of nature’s most formidable beasts. Forget that we always take a break during our game drives, climb out of the Land Rover to stretch our legs a bit, and have drinks and snacks. It doesn’t help that just before we set off on our game drive we are asked what we would like from that evening’s menu. This leads to three hours of subconsciously thinking of that delicious creamy spinach soup or kingklip in lemon sauce or whatever the delicious offering is for dessert. No wonder we’re hungry on our return!

Well, here we are, enjoying pre-dinner drinks – massive glasses of Nambiti’s finest red wine. Kevin, Nambiti Hills’s manager and head game range, has come to join me. It’s always good to chat to him. Kevin’s enthusiasm for what he does and all the animals and flora in the reserve around us is infectious.

We chat for a bit about the Le Sueur Cheetah Project on the reserve where cheetahs (which are endangered) will be bred and rehabilitated into the wild. I’m to visit the the cheetahs that are part of this project the next day – it’s something that will move me in a way that words cannot do justice. (I have already written extensively about this project – please go through the blog archives if you’re interested. In fact, I urge you to do so because the work being done to try and save cheetahs is extraordinary and deserves everyone’s support, even if that support simply means sending friends an e-mail about it, or a link to this site.)

In terms of the cheetahs running wild on the reserve, two of the original cheetah brothers brought in from Phinda have been killed, presumably by lion or possibly hyena, and more cheetahs (3 or 4 females) will soon be brought in to the reserve.

“They will also be bringing in another 3 elephant bulls,” Kevin informs me. Presently there is 1 bull and 5 or 6 females. (Plus several offspring.) I ask Kevin about interbreeding when there are just one or two herds on a reserve.

“In a bigger environment,” Kevin continues, “the elephants would just move away. They wouldn’t stay in the same area. There would be enough of them around so that they wouldn’t be mating with the same females over and over again. But your second generation is going to take 10-15 years before that female is ready for mating. So it will take awhile for this reserve to have interbreeding problems so it’s not an issue right now.”

“Do elephant herds tend to hang out with other elephant herds?” I ask.

“Yeah, well, in winter time especially, your herds are a lot larger and they all come together. In the summer time your herds are 15 to 20, generally.” Kevin replied.

Warming to the topic (or is it the wine?), Kevin carries on – “In places like Nambiti, we can control the populations here. I don’t think the reserve would be too popular if we started culling, so they would probably go the contraceptive route. Where they use contraceptives on elephants. They fly in with a chopper, dart them, and that’s that. They use a barbless dart (a dart that falls out) and she’s done.”

“The mind boggles – when you said contraceptive I was thinking of a giant condom!”

“Yeah, you can’t exactly give an elephant a condom, now, can you. ‘Here”s a black bag!’”

Much laughter

“It’s too much for the brain!” I say, still laughing.

“‘Here’s the pill.’” Kevin continues with his imaginary elephant to elephant conversation.

More laughter.

“‘Don’t forget to take it every day, in this order. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.’”

We carry on laughing until dinner.