Page 14 - Issue 3 2020 - Kyalami Connect

NATURE
Kyalami Estates
Brand Manual
was stroking its head, but the baby was
unresponsive.
The only solution was to wait till dawn
and bring in a veterinarian by helicopter
and then, using two vehicles, drive the
elephants off and isolate the calf.

Francoise describes how the calf was
hurriedly anaesthetised using a drug dart.
To fully appreciate how narrow the gap is
between elephants and humans when living
in cordial circumstances, it is important
to visualise the trauma involved in this
operation and its remarkable aftermath.

Rangers cut away the wire and applied
antiseptic salve and then injected a
fast-reaction recovery drug before rapidly
withdrawing. From a distance, they
watched the agitated herd rush towards
Lawrence and Francoise Anthony the calf as it unsteadily wobbled towards
its mother.
were habituated to their new habitat and He let them out.
could be freed. Francoise says, “Freed from the snare,
One day, Mnumzane, the disoriented male his trunk curled up against her belly and
Their night-time arrival at Thula Thula, orphan of the previous matriarch and his little mouth searched hungrily for her
during a violent thunderstorm, could hardly now an almost fully-grown bull, charged teat” . . . there was silence among those
have been more traumatic: heavy curtains Lawrence with murderous intent. Nana watching.
of rain, bolts of lightning and the screaming stepped between them. Mnumzane
of engines as heavy trucks struggled to eventually left the herd, as is the habit The team departed to allow the herd
extricate themselves from the Zululand of maturing males, and became an to disappear deep into the bush, which
mud, and then a cannon-like shot as a tyre affectionate friend of Lawrence’s. But they were expected to do for days –
burst. It took hours before the trumpeting that’s another story – a very moving one. perhaps even weeks. That evening,
elephants were inside the boma. Francoise invited the rescue team to a
Indeed, there are so many stories. sunset champagne celebration a couple
More traumas were to follow, including a of kilometres from the lodge. When she
mass break-out from the boma. If Lawrence went overseas or to another stepped out of her house ready to go, “who
part of the country, the herd would sense should be at the entrance of the lodge to
Nana never ceased to patrol the boma his imminent return and travel miles to meet me? The entire herd!”
fence seeking a spot where the current wait at the house to greet him. He called
might be off. Lawrence camped nearby, it ‘spooky’. Francoise, in her own book, Incredibly, after the racket of the helicopter;
continually calling out to Nana assuring her describes something spookier. after the panic; after the stampeding and
of his good intentions. But every time he the trumpeting of the distressed cow forced
came near the fence Nana would charge, After Lawrence’s death, rangers spotted to abandon her calf . . . there they were,
stopping short of the electric barrier. The a new-born, very emaciated calf, its “every single one of them. They stayed with
weeks passed. Day after day Lawrence trunk and face deeply cut into by a thick us for hours . . . who knows what they were
kept vigil but came nearer and nearer the wire snare. It was unable to suckle. thinking?”
fence. Each time Nana charged. Towards When Vusi, Francoise's right-hand man,
the end, Lawrence just stood his ground at went to see what could be done he Was it gratitude? Did they want to say
the fence, calling her name. spotted the herd through binoculars, but something? Of course, they did.
no calf. It was late afternoon. He sat in
One morning, he found Nana waiting for his vehicle and was surprised to see the One day, I believe, we’ll find a way to
him at the fence. She was very calm. herd coming towards him. They stopped communicate with another species. And
He moved, very slowly, within touching metres away and Vusi spotted the calf one day we’ll crack the code and speak
distance, and found himself looking up at below its mother’s belly. The mother with elephants.
her enormous form towering above him.
The matriarch,
Then, “Nana’s trunk snaked through the Nana, visits
fence, carefully avoiding the electric Francoise at the
strands, and reached my body. She gently house
touched me. I was surprised at the wetness
of her trunk tip.”

She stood and looked at Lawrence for a
few moments before turning back to the
herd, 20 metres away, where Frankie,
her closest companion, greeted her with
apparent excitement. Lawrence decided
that the following day he would release
them. When he arrived at dawn they
were crowded at the fence “as if they
anticipated something special was about
to happen”.

12 Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 3 • 2020