The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild, a memoir written by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence, left me spellbound. I have always loved elephants. I lived in Africa for two years when my husband Bruce and I served with the Peace Corps in The Gambia, but there were no elephants in that region. In fact, where this book takes place in Zululand, South Africa, the people there had not seen elephants for more than 100 years.
In order to save a rogue herd of seven elephants, Lawrence Anthony agreed to take them in on Thula Thula, his 5,000 acre game reserve in Zululand. He was the herd’s last chance of survival: otherwise, they would be killed. Anthony had devoted his life to animal conservation, protecting the world’s endangered species. Adopting this herd of three adult females, three youngsters (one male, 2 females) and an adolescent bull, was a challenge that changed his life.
Taking in this herd required heavy-duty shoring up of the reserve boundaries. Elephants can do a lot of damage and the authorities, to say nothing of the village people, had no patience for rogue elephants, the world’s largest land animal, and the damage they can wreak.
Anthony and his French wife, Françoise, devoted their lives to the reserve. The bond they formed worked both ways: the elephants learned they could trust Anthony, and he learned about life, loyalty, and the meaning of freedom from them. But it wasn’t without struggle, not only with the elephants, but with the village people, and the constant worry of poachers.
This memoir is rich in Africa’s wildness and its culture. Anthony also earned trust and loyalty among his staff. They eventually built a lodge where guests could view the wildlife as they rode through the reserve in Land Rovers. There were moments, however, where the guests got more excitement than they bargained for. To have a successful wild game reserve also required cooperation from local authorities and Anthony’s many encounters with tribal chiefs showed their reverence and respect toward him. At times the reserve’s existence was held in the balance of centuries-old tribal wars and boundary disputes.
The Elephant Whisperer has its funny moments and its sad, wrenching moments, but most of all it is a heartwarming story of an unrelenting effort to protect our world’s wildlife. I highly recommend this memoir.