Thandora – Final Chapter

Anthropomorphism

Readers of this blog will probably ask 100 questions and offer as many possible answers as to why the girls did not accept Thandora.

During my hours with her in the reserve I challenged every scenario possible. All I can say is that Thandora was happy on her own. The day after the famous meeting described in videos and pictures in the previous blog, we meandered to a dam I called our ‘secret dam’. The water was clear and for some reason there were no traces of elephant spoor at this Dam. I assumed the other elephants did not come to this dam very often for whatever reason.

Thandora – Part 8

Standing in the exact same position I was in when I released Bonnie and Thembile, I waited as Thandora tentatively approached the invisible line that separated her holding-boma space from 10 000 hectares of reserve. The gate was open and all she had to do was walk out, but the moment was to big for her and she was clearly not happy about taking this next step.

Chapter 1: The awakening

Thandora – part 2

After six years of working intimately with captive elephants, interacting with some of the world’s top vets, meeting leading elephant researchers and being invited to write the code of conduct for captive wild elephants in South Africa, I thought I had a grasp on the subject.

Thandora however taught me otherwise.

Chapter 1: The awakening

Thandora

For six years I had been waking up before the sun rose and my day began working with elephants. These were captive elephants, elephants that each had their own story, but no voice to tell this story to the world.

I had however been hearing their story being told by others for fifteen years.

Sadly in the year I was introduced to Thandora I had chosen to step away from working in this industry.