Elephant Whispers

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Victoria (the new volunteer) and I went to Elephant Whispers in Hazyview, South Africa where we were allowed to feed, ride, and interact with African Elephants. When I look back at pictures from the day, all I can see is pure joy on my face as I am gazing up at the massive creature in front of me. I cannot wait to share this experience with you through words and eventually, through pictures and video.

After our guide reminded us about the dangers of being around wild animals, we were lead down a path to an open area where there waited six African Elephants. Each of them had a rider on their backs for the safety of the guests. When there were no guests, the elephants roamed free in the 2000 hectares of land owned by the company.

While we gazed upon the statuesque animals in front of us, our guide gave us a brief history of the African elephant and explained the problems facing the elephant today. Before the white man colonized Africa, elephants roamed free across Africa and lived harmoniously with the indigenous tribes. When white men came, they poached the elephant almost to extinction for their ivory. Eventually, laws were put into place to protect the elephant against poaching, but this caused another problem. By this point, much of the elephants’ former territory had been claimed by men, who were using the land for agriculture. Elephants were limited to specific areas, but their population continued to grow. This led to there being a much higher density of elephants than was sustainable by the land. The elephants were eating so much and knocking down so many trees that other species began to suffer, so it was decided that the elephants must be culled. Culling is the shooting of a species to reduce its population to a sustainable number, preventing damage to the environment and other species. All of the elephants in front of us had been rescued from a cull.

Culling effectively reduced the elephant population even though it caused a host of other problems because elephants are such socially complex mammals. For example, when the oldest elephants were culled, the entire social structure of a herd would break down. There was no one left with the experience necessary to lead the herd. There was no one to teach the younger elephants skills that take decades to learn. When elephants are distraught, they can cause a lot of damage, so culls were officially halted in 1994. Since then, the elephant population has exploded again. We face the same problems that we had before the culling. For example, the Ground Hornbill is critically endangered. Ground Hornbills are very picky when choosing old, hollowed out trees for nesting sites. Because elephants are so concentrated, their destruction of trees suitable as nesting sites for the Ground Hornbill happens much faster rate than the formation of new nesting sites. This means that the Ground Hornbills have a much slower reproduction, which is unable to counteract the rate at which the locals poach them for good muthi.

After the guide’s introduction, he explained how the staff trained the elephants through positive reinforcement. While police dogs will learn around 15 commands, all of these elephants knew at least 80 commands! Tambo, the eldest elephant at 29 years of age, knew over 130 commands. The guide then led the elephants through a series of commands that frankly blew my mind. He would call out individual elephants by name and tell them to turn left, turn right, lift up one of their feet, twist their trunks, shake their heads, make vocalizations—the list goes on. My favorite command by far was to “talk.” The elephants would make these deep rumbles that sound unlike anything I have ever heard before. It had the same rhythm and speed as a cat purring, but had the timbre of someone blowing into an empty glass bottle. Then, the guide instructed a 16-year-old elephant named Medwa to walk up to us! One by one, we each were allowed to walk up to him, hold his trunk, and put pellets inside. I was in awestruck when I walked up to Medwa. You do not realize how big an elephant is until you are standing right next to it. As I looked into his eyes and put the pellets in his trunk, I could not have been happier. My only wish was that the people I love could experience this with me. My family and I have always loved going to the zoo and watching wildlife documentaries on Animal Planet. When Jack and I went to the National Zoo before I left for Africa, we watched their Asian Elephants for at least 15 minutes with huge grins on our faces. I need to bring my family back to Africa one day so that they can share the wonderful experience of interacting with an elephant.

The guide instructed him to lie down on his side so that we could feel the different parts of his body. We felt his trunk, his head, his tusks, his ears—everything. Our guide explained the anatomy and physiology of the elephant. My favorite part of the elephant was the inside of his ear, which was silky smooth. The tightness of the skin allowed me to see the webbed network of veins. Our guide told us that the ear of the African elephant looked more like the African continent, while the ear of the Asian elephant looked like India.

Eventually, Medwa became bored with this whole ordeal and stood up. His trainer led him away and the guide brought Tambo up to us instead. Tambo was at least twice as big as Medwa. Each of us was allowed to stand under his trunk against his legs as the staff took our photo. My head did not even reach the top of his leg. This elephant could have crushed me at any second, but he chose not to. He trusted the groomsmen enough to allow complete strangers to touch him and to stand at his most vulnerable place—right beneath his heart. I asked one of the groomsmen who was standing nearby, “Do you think these elephants love you?” He gave me a toothy grin and said, “Yes.”

Next, it was time for the elephant ride. Victoria and I, to our delight, were assigned to Medwa.

He kneeled down and we were pulled onto Medwa’s back. We were told to hold on tightly to our groomsman while Medwa stood up. I am very glad I did, because it felt like a rollercoaster as Medwa shifted his weight forwards and backwards to lift his 4-ton body from the ground. Then, we went on a trail ride, with Medwa in the lead of all the other elephants. Riding an elephant was much different than riding a horse. Probably the most important thing was that you were much higher off the ground. The shifting movements of the back muscles as the elephant stepped forward were so large that if I was not holding onto the riding pad, I could have fallen off at any minute! Even so, riding this elephant was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The most brilliant thing about this whole operation was that the elephants were treated extremely well. After the encounter, they were allowed to roam freely across 2000 hectares for the remainder of the day. The elephants were never beaten and had large enclosures for the times when they had to be confined. This elephant encounter was vastly different from those in Thailand and even in the United States at circuses and fairs, where the elephants are treated poorly and may not even be in a herd. The Hazyview elephants were allowed to be wild and live in a herd, but had the benefits of captivity—the best medical care (done by Peter Rogers), guaranteed food, and positive human relationships. I hope that one day, all of you have the opportunity to ride elephants that live under these conditions.

After we dismounted the elephants, we were allowed to thank our elephants for the ride by stroking their trunks and feeding them more pellets. As I gazed into Medwa’s eyes for the second time that day, I felt forever changed.

Aria