The African milk tree stands as a tall reminder that I’m not in Kansas anymore. I mean, I’m not in Kansas at all. I’m back in South Africa, looking for elephants.
There’s a moment that feels almost electric; a euphorbia tree comes into view and something inside me shifts: a rush of a sense of belonging; an earthy sweetness in the air that smells of dust and possibility; a tingling anticipation of reunion with the magnificent beings we’re here to observe.
The tree is the threshold; the elephants are the reason we cross it.
We venture out that first afternoon to see what we bump into. Not literally, of course. We’re here 5 months after collars were removed from 2 of the matriarchs, so we have to find them the old fashioned way. We’re here 5 months after we field-tested the first version of an elephant ID app that has the potential to fundamentally change the way we identify individuals in the field. We’re here to mesh science with wonder; to bring the future into the field; to follow their footsteps, and to observe and learn.
So that first sighting that first day in the field, on a landscape transformed by recent rains, we spotted a matriarch and her new babies and grand-babies wallowing in the mud. We sat with them as they played and bathed and rumbled the way elephants do. I felt that rumble permeate into my bones as some of the heaviness of the world I left behind lifted.
These animals will never cease to leave me in awe of the natural world.
This is the 4th time I’ve been at Kariega since the spring of 2024, and to be honest, I’m not in love with South Africa as a destination. To me, it feels closed and apportioned and entitled, and I always leave with the feeling that they’ve commoditized the wilderness here.
That said, Kariega feels like an oasis of potential. The reserve is trying to collaborate with its neighbours to connect private reserves into the Bushman’s River Biodiversity Corridor and eventually up to Addo Elephant National Park. But that kind of cooperation requires trust and wildlife management and a look at the problem from the animals’ perspective rather than a consumptive end goal. The result, if it works, is a natural corridor for elephants and other endemic species to roam and thrive and, ultimately, survive.
Fence removal works. Dr. Brooke Friswold, Africa Manager for Bring The Elephant Home, recently published a paper after researching the results of fence removal at Kariega. Results confirmed what she suspected all along: Removing fences helps elephants and ecosystems thrive:
- Elephants moved into lower-density, higher-quality habitat after fence removal.
- No additional vegetation loss occurred where elephants roamed.
- Locomotion increased and foraging decreased, which was consistent with exploratory behaviour.
- Social bonding increased by 66%.
- Aggression decreased by 20%.
The full paper is definitely worth a read.
Now what?
I’m conjuring up another blog post on what I’ve learnt from the herd. Elephants can teach us more about collaboration and empathy and respect than many of our so-called leaders these days. For the few hours I’ve got left as I write this, I’ll direct my thoughts back into the bush and with our herd.
