The Elephant Whisperer: My Life With the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony (the ebook reader txt) 📕

reserve – it was close to our boundary and I simply had that uncanny feeling. We had just seen the resident male, a giant beast sporting an impressive golden mane, with his harem less than a mile away.

No doubt these two had returned from their walkabout at Thula Thula, hard and lean, to challenge him for the spoils.

chapter sixteen

The southern white rhino is very big. Surprisingly big – especially if you are on foot and one steps out of the bush in front of you. It’s the second-largest land mammal on earth and can easily weigh three tons. Prized by poachers for its horn, of which the one just in front of me had a particularly fine pair.

We had just had three delivered to the reserve and this female, still doped from the sedative, had groggily wandered away from the other two. This posed a big problem. The elephants were close by and unknowingly she was ambling directly towards them. We had to cut her off – and trying to dissuade a mountain of muscle and horn still hungover from travel tranquillizers from going in her chosen direction was not something I relished.

‘David,’ I called into the radio. ‘I’ve found her. Can you bring the Landy across? We’re at the south end of the airstrip.’

‘Roger, boss,’ came the instant reply. ‘Thula Thula international airport it is!’

I watched this beautiful creature not fifteen yards away walking unsteadily on short dumpy legs which could usually propel her into an unbelievably fast charge in no time. Clad in a prehistoric suit of armour impervious to almost anything except a bullet, she tottered along, completely unaware of my presence. A magnificent 40-inch horn like a sabre atthe tip of her elongated head added gravitas to an already imposing form. This was the stuff poachers dream about.

Max stood by me transfixed by the beast. Bush-hardened as he was, he was not used to rhino this close and apart from his twitching nose taking in the scent, he didn’t move.

I kept a wary eye on the herd browsing upwind when I heard a soft sound behind me and turned to see Mnumzane coming up the airstrip downwind, testing the air.

Damn it! Of all the bad luck … we were too late; he must have caught either my or the rhino’s scent and started to slowly walk in our direction.

‘David,’ I whispered into the radio, ‘Mnumzane’s right here.’

‘So am I, boss,’ he replied as the Landy bounced out of the bush onto the airstrip. Giving Mnumzane a wide birth, he pulled up next to me and jumped out leaving the motor idling.

‘Somehow we have to keep Mnumzane and the herd away from her,’ I said pointing to the dazed rhino. ‘They’re too close. I really don’t like this at all.’

‘I brought the horse feed you wanted. That should delay him for a while,’ he replied.

‘Yeah, but the smell might also bring the other elephants over. We’re going to have to shield the rhino with the Land Rover, put ourselves between her and any elephant that gets too inquisitive. But first let’s try and get Mnumzane out of the way.’

David jumped into the back of Landy and sliced the first of the large sacks of horse pellets with his Leatherman knife. He placed the open bag at the tailgate and crouched down next to it. ‘I hope they like this stuff.’

‘We’ll soon find out,’ I said, getting behind the wheel and driving slowly towards Mnumzane.

David was making light of it, but this was a deadly serious business. Elephants will usually only bother rhinos ifthey don’t get out of their way – which rhinos invariably do. However, our latest addition was still shaking off the effects of sedatives injected to pacify her during the journey to Thula Thula, and thus would not be able to take in her surroundings. If she stumbled into Mnumzane or the herd … well, anything could happen.

What we planned to do was divert Mnumzane’s attention from the groggy creature by giving him a taste of the protein-rich pellets and then enticing him as far away as possible by laying a food trail. It was dangerous work as David would be completely exposed on the open back of the pickup as he poured the feed out to excited elephants following just yards behind. Mnumzane was only a teenager, but he still weighed about three and a half tons and we had to be very careful.

I cut across in front of the youngster then reversed back to where he stood confused and a little petulant about the noisy intrusion into his space. David chucked out some feed and I drove off a short distance. To my dismay, he ignored the offering and resumed his meander up the airstrip towards the rhino.

‘Reverse again!’ shouted David, holding the bag ready to pour. ‘But this time get much closer.’

‘OK … but be bloody careful.’

I gingerly edged the vehicle backwards … ‘Closer, closer!’ David called, keeping a wary watch on the young bull.

Suddenly, not liking what was going on, Mnumzane lifted his head aggressively and turned sharply towards us, ears spread wide.

‘Just a little bit more …’ said David ignoring the elephant’s blatant warning, and just as I thought we were too close he quickly tipped the bag and I slammed the vehicle into first, easing off with David laying a long trail of feed away from the rhino.

Mnumzane watched us go; relaxing his flared ears andunfurling his trunk to smell the pile of pellets on the ground. He snuffled some into his mouth and a few seconds later he was piling in like a glutton. The ploy had worked.

‘That will keep him busy and we’ve plenty more chow if the others come across,’ said David hopping off the back and getting into the passenger seat, shoving Max between us.

At the mention of the other elephants, I looked up to where they were grazing about forty yards away. As I did so, Nana’s trunk suddenly snaked up. Even though