“But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those that we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves.”
Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer

As I mentioned in my blog “Shocking” last week, when Lawrence Anthony, the author of The Elephant Whisperer died, an amazing thing happened. The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years previously as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony. These two elephant herds arrived at the family compound shortly after Anthony’s death. They reached the main house in a solemn procession on Sunday 4th of March, two days after he passed away. They stood around for a couple of hours, waiting, as if they knew something terrible had happened. It is now three years since Lawrence died. Each year on the 4th of March, the elephants return to his home to pay homage to the man they loved.
Wishing to use a pictures of Lawrence Anthony, in my blog “Shocking“, I contacted his wife, Francoise. She sent me photographs and we got “chatting” via Social Media. She is the owner of Thula Thula Game Reserve. It is there that the “Whisperer” saved his herds of elephants. Thula Thula takes pride in tracing it’s origin back to the private hunting grounds of King Shaka, founder of the Zulu Empire. The first historic meeting between Shaka and his father, Senzangakhona, which set the stage for the creation of the Zulu Nation, took place at the Nseleni River at Thula Thula. The Zulu name: Thula Thula literally means peace and tranquility.
Francoise sent me a video of her speaking at a Canadian conference earlier this year about Lawrence and her work with their elephants and rhinos. The two rhinos with their protective bodyguards, I found totally engaging. It explains Thula Thula’s stance on rhino horn poisoning which featured on South Africa’s current affairs program Carte Blanche last week. It is both fascinating and thought provoking. I asked Francoise if I could show it to the world via my blog. She readily agreed. Share with me the delight and awe I experienced while observing the elephants and rhinos. They are such incredible creatures that we must “help, rescue and protect.”
It is essential that they are shielded from destruction and annihilation.

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