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

He was absolutely right. Mnumzane’s youth was on our side, but it had worked and the rhino was safe. We posted a ranger with the rhino with instructions to call if any elephants reappeared and I went off to find Mnumzane and make my peace with him.

chapter seventeen

Frankie’s charge at Françoise and me, terrifying as it was, had in its own strange way strengthened the bond that I had been building with the herd. The fact that the matriarch Nana had not joined in was an impressive breakthrough. She had launched a few aggressive steps towards us, which is only to be expected of a wild elephant, but then she almost instantly halted. To me, the fact that she had not overreacted was significant.

Frankie, who had a sinister reputation already, had broken a full-blooded charge as soon as she recognized me – something virtually unheard of in the elephant world.

However, what happened a few months later, was even more surprising.

Françoise and I were fast asleep when Bijou’s persistent growling woke us. Bijou – jewel in French – is Françoise’s tiny Maltese poodle, the obligatory accoutrement of almost an entire nation of French women. Bijou enjoyed a privileged life beyond anything Max or Penny could ever hope to aspire to. She had the choice food, even real steak, and slept on the bed between us where for a time her major accomplishment was nearly destroying our sex life.

She was not a watchdog, so when she started growling I realized something serious was going on.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my shotgun and then heard what the problem was – a heavy scraping on the roofaccompanied by soft thuds. The other dogs were also alert. Penny’s hair stood stiff as wire on her back and she was crouching protectively next to Françoise. Max was sitting at the door, ears cocked but calm, watching me quizzically for instructions.

I pulled on some trousers and then tentatively opened the top half of the stable door leading to the garden, shotgun at the ready.

Whoa! A giant figure suddenly loomed up and I got the fright of my life, hastily stepping back and tripping over Max, then staggering backwards until I slammed into the opposite wall, sprawling in an undignified mess on the floor. I somehow managed to keep the cocked shotgun from hammering into the wall and discharging a shot.

For there, standing in the doorway, casually pulling the grass from our thatched roof was Nana.

Woken by the commotion, Françoise was sitting up in bed holding Bijou tightly – staring at the apparition in the doorway. Like her, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Of all the spooky things that I could have imagined outside my front door at some ungodly hour, a full-grown elephant was definitely not one of them.

Recovering my composure I got up and walked toward the door and – not really knowing what to do – began talking softly to her.

‘Hey, Nana, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here, you beautiful girl?’

I will always remember her response. She stretched out her trunk and I did likewise with my hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world. For a few magnetic moments we connected. I stood a little closer, taking care to stay at the edge of her reach so she couldn’t grab me, and she moved the tip of her trunk over my T-shirt and then touched me on the head and face. I held my ground, completely entranced by the exhilarating combination ofdanger and affection. Considering that she couldn’t see what she was doing as her eyes were above door level, she was surprisingly gentle.

She then lowered her head and moved forward, almost as if she was trying to come inside, and with that Bijou barked. The spell was broken.

I doubt whether many people have had a ten-foot, five-ton wild elephant trying to squeeze into their room via a narrow door, but take it from me, it is not a soothing experience.

Bijou and Penny went ballistic, sprinting around the room barking like banshees. Surprised, Nana backed off a few paces and flared her ears.

Alarmed that the dogs were going to be stomped flat, Françoise grabbed Penny and stuffed her into the bottom of a built-in clothes cupboard. She then rushed after Bijou who, assuming the unlikely role as protector of the realm, was now for reasons known only to her having a go at Max, shrieking at him in high-pitched Maltese. I’m convinced that Nana was just too awesome for the tiny poodle to grasp and thus she assumed all the confusion was to be blamed on a bemused Max, who sat patiently ignoring her.

Françoise caught her and as she was putting the semi-hysterical pooch into the cupboard, Penny pushed open her door and came back into the fray. She wasn’t going to let anything – not even an elephant – get between her and Françoise.

Françoise managed to scramble Penny into her arms again and as she pushed her back in the cupboard, Bijou bolted out. It was an absolute circus. Eventually we locked all three dogs in the bathroom, and I was able to concentrate on Nana.

With all the commotion she had moved off about ten paces and it was only then I saw that the entire herd was with her. I looked at my watch: 2 a.m.

‘This is amazing,’ I said to Françoise who had joined me at the door. ‘This is completely bloody amazing.’

‘What are they doing here?’

‘I have no idea. But we might as well enjoy it while it lasts.’

Enjoy it we did. There was an air of contentment as the animals strolled around the lawn in the moonlight, casting giant shadows across the garden like ghosts of the prehistoric world.

As they moved off to the front of the house I dashed across the lawn to the rangers’ quarters to wake David.

He shot up in his bed. ‘Poachers again?’

‘No. The elephants are here. Come quickly.’

‘What