Page 16 - • IFV 8 2020.indd
P. 16
Nature
Lawrence and
Francoise Anthony
speaking with elephants
BY JAMES CLARKE, ASSISTED BY MARY BROADLEY
One of the strange consequences of any will know the late
Lawrence Anthony’s 2010
lockdown happened at Thula Thula Mbest-seller, The Elephant
Game Reserve northwest of Empangeni Whisperer and the unforgettable sequel
in 2018, An Elephant in my Kitchen, by
in Zululand. This is where Lawrence and his wife, Francoise, who by then was
Francoise Anthony, in 1999, took custody of a widowed after Lawrence suffered a
heart attack.
herd of wild and traumatised elephants - and Francoise, an archetypical Parisienne,
added to the annals of Africa’s wildlife story. now runs Thula Thula and one
cannot help but be moved by what is
happening there.
My interest in Thula Thula is in the way
it has demonstrated that the African
elephant can display unmistakable
signs of empathy towards humans and
how uncannily close their social codes
are to ours. Recent happenings at Thula
14 • Issue 8 2020 • The Villager
