The elephant whisperer : my life with the herd in the African wild

by Lawrence Anthony

Other authorsGraham Spence
Paper Book, 2009

Publication

New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2009.

Collection

Call number

Nature A

Physical description

368 p.; 22 cm

Status

Available

Call number

Nature A

Description

Biography & Autobiography. Nature. Nonfiction. When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.The Elephant Whisperer is a heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad account of Anthony's experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures. Set against the background of life on an African game reserve, with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, it is a delightful book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Stbalbach
My initial expectations for The Elephant Whisperer didn't reach beyond a sentimental animal-lover-book (eg. "Marley and Me") super-sized to elephant scale, but it turned out to be much more. Anthony, a native-born (white) African, owns and runs a game reserve and lodge in South Africa. In the book
Show More
he describes daily scenes and incidents filled with danger and excitement from poachers, restless local tribes, snakes, crocks, storms - and at the center his attempt to bond with a small herd of troubled wild elephants he took in who otherwise would have been shot because of their rogue nature. The "whispering" isn't mystical, Anthony describes how animals communicate through eyes and tone and other methods so it is possible to establish a rapport. His descriptions of Africa to the point I felt transported and became lost in the book, it left a strong impression. I loved the book and was saddened to learn Anthony died in 2012, but look forward to the films (of this book and others) that may be forthcoming. Lawrence Anthony is as rare as the animals he seeks to preserve, the world lost a brave conservationist.
Show Less
LibraryThing member splinfo
I'm just fascinated by elephants and was completely drawn in by Anthony's account of the day to day happenings on the game reserve. Amazing details of becoming acquainted with a rogue herd and understanding their interactions. Definitely recommended to animal lovers and travelers. KH
LibraryThing member Katyefk
Wonderful book on the connection of humans and elephants in the wild of Africa. Having just returned from safaris and being surrounded by herds of elephants in our vehicles, this book told the story exactly as we experienced the bush.
LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
An inspiring, true-story of one man's determination to save a herd of troubled elephants and set up a reserve where they could roam proud and free, safe from poachers. Having caught a glimpse of this fascinating life earlier this year, I admire Anthony's (and his conservationist friends')
Show More
commitment to saving Africa's wildlife. This book made me laugh and cry as I read about Nana, Frankie, Mnamzane, baby Thula, E.T. and all the other elephants in the herd. A little slow in places but overall, a wonderful, heart-warming read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mb
Besides it being a beautiful account of the interaction between the author and the ' difficult ' elephants, it gives you an insight into the life on a game reserve in S.A. I really enjoyed this book.
LibraryThing member dannN
An amazing account of one man's relationship with a herd of malevolent elephants. This is a rare insight into the intelligence of animals and how communication can be established between man and beast.
I enjoyed this narrative immensely.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Audio book narrated by Simon Vance

The subtitle says it all: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild
Opening lines to Prologue: In 1999, I was asked to accept a herd of troubled wild elephants on my game reserve. I had no inkling of the escapades and adventures I was about to embark upon. I had no
Show More
idea how challenging it would be or how much my life would be enriched.

This is a fine memoir of the author’s experiences. Anthony is a conservationist and works tirelessly to preserve the wild animals on his reserve and elsewhere. I was enthralled by his stories of this time. While the elephants are certainly central to the tale, he also includes details of the Zulu culture in post-apartheid South Africa, information about other endangered species (White Rhino especially), and even a tidbit on his work to save the animals at the Baghdad Zoo as Sadam Hussein’s regime fell. There is plenty of humor as well as harrowing danger, but what really comes across is his deep love of these magnificent animals. The story of Mnumzane (the bull elephant) just about broke my heart. Eight pages of color photographs are included in the paperback.

The audio book is narrated by Simon Vance, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite audio performers. His facility with various accents, as well as his acting ability really breathes life into the story. I felt as if I were sitting by a campfire in the bush, hearing Anthony recount his adventures.
Show Less
LibraryThing member EllenH
loved this book! Anthony's stories of his life after accepting a rouge herd of elephants into his Zululand Reserve are beautiful, frightening and a great read. I'd heard bits of it on Chapter a Day and wanted to read the rest of the story.
LibraryThing member econnick
Anthony's story is one that, above all, shows respect for nature. I've always been an elephant lover and this book only reinforced that love. Its descriptions and stories about this herd and their struggles make them feel like family. If anything, it made me want to pack my bags and go exploring in
Show More
Thula Thula. His persistence and faith in these animals teaches a moral lesson as well. His storytelling and the way he organized the book made me never want to hear the end. While it would be difficult to implement into a Literature class on a large scale, it is a book I would definitely reccommend to students who enjoy travel, elephants, South Africa, etc.
Show Less
LibraryThing member cynthiasgarden
excellent story, very interesting. Author has wildlife preserve in Africa and took in herd of rogue elephants, learns their behavior and communication ways
LibraryThing member rosies
educational; pretentious; what was the purpose for writing the book? to bring tourists? did he interact with the elephants for too long?
LibraryThing member travelledguy
Enjoyable book to read.
LibraryThing member Booli
An amazing story of re-locating a herd of troublesome elephants into a new game reserve. A real page turner!
LibraryThing member LibraryCin
4.5 stars

Lawrence Anthony bought a game reserve in South Africa and shortly after, rescued a herd of troublemaking elephants. He was able to calm them down and even befriend them. As the elephants become more well-behaved, his reserve grew with more and more wildlife and stories (good and bad,
Show More
including poaching, a common threat) on the reserve.

I loved most of this! I listened to the audio, and did lose interest a few times, mostly during parts that weren’t about the animals, and I ended up sobbing as I walked from my work to the train listening at the end of the book!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Tytania
Snapshots from his efforts to introduce a small herd of wild "problem" elephants into his South African game reserve. My experiences with "problem" goats had me relating very much to many of these incidents; sympathizing wholeheartedly with members rejected by the herd and babies born deformed; and
Show More
seeing the same emotions and smarts we attribute to ourselves in our fellow mammals. We're all cut from the same cloth.

Anthony's descriptions of 'communicating' with his herd do not devolve into the unbelievable or anthropomorphizing - though many of his brink-of-disaster stories do sound almost unbelievable; still, I feel they were too crazy for someone to have risked making up. His descriptions of the Zulus who inhabit the country with him are fairly even-handed; they are portrayed as individuals, but it's always a fine line, and they do always feel a bit "other".

Anthony develops relationships with this herd because they come to him with problems that must be overcome - they need to learn to trust him and accept his reserve as their new home. Ultimately, though, the saddest part of the book is the end where we are reminded rather suddenly that Anthony is really running a game reserve, not a petting zoo. His reserve is a place for wild animals to live wild. Thus, he develops no relationships with the newer additions to the elephant family. Presumably he does not even give names to the new babies anymore. That felt sad, but right.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
Lawrence Anthony (1950-2012) was a South African conservationist and the long-time head of the Thula Thula game preserve. Dedicated to the preservation of all African wildlife, his rescue of a "troublesome" elephant herd that was about to be shot lead to a particularly close connection to
Show More
elephants.

This book covers the time from that first phone call asking him if he wanted a herd of elephants who kept breaking out of their current home and making trouble. Common sense said he should refuse, but saying no would mean the deaths of all nine elephants. He said yes.

We follow the scramble to get ready for the elephants, the shock of learning that the herd matriarch and her youngest daughter had been shot anyway, the elephants' breakout from their holding pen almost immediately on arrival. Anthony battles crisis after crisis, including the discovery that his own staff of guards are involved in poaching, while slowly and painstakingly building a relationship with the new matriarch, Nana, and getting the traumatized herd to recover and accept their new home. Over the nest several years, there is both success and heartbreak, for Anthony and the elephants.

Anthony tells an absorbing story, with humor and insight as well as the wide-ranging emotions that often accompany dealing with the highly intelligent, badly traumatized, five-ton elephants. This is a story well worth your time.

Highly recommended.

I bought this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TigsW
This was a beautiful story acknowledging the wisdom and knowledge of this wonderful herd of elephants but, more broadly, wild creatures in general. It was balanced, never overly emotional, and highly respectful of the animals it was written about.
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Loved this book. Love elephants and these were the star of the story. Will visit Thula Thula
LibraryThing member bookworm12
Such an incredible story. Parts of it broke my heart, but I have a soft spot for anything with animals. The connection he has with the rescued elephant herd is a powerful thing. I appreciated that he never forgets they are powerful animals, even when they are close.
LibraryThing member LGCullens
The Elephant Whisper by Lawrence Anthony

First off, understand that the title of this book is highly misleading. This story is actually a balance of wondrous and woeful perspective of the reality of physical life, especially in the latter chapters, depicted through fascinating experiences. There is
Show More
a powerful, elemental message threaded through this writing about all life forms journeying together, connected, and dependent on each other for existence, which includes humans. If strong emotions aren't aroused, then I suspect the reader may be blinded by their human bubble and/or have a heart of stone.

"In our noisy cities we tend to forget the things our ancestors knew on a gut level: that the wilderness is alive, that its whispers are there for all to hear – and to respond to."

"Living rough in the wilderness is a salve for the soul. Ancient instincts awaken; forgotten skills are relearned, consciousness is sharpened and life thrums at a richer tempo."

"Under the microscope, living organisms are just a soup of chemicals and minerals. But what about what the microscope doesn’t see? That life force, the vital ingredient of existence – from an acacia to an elephant – can it be quantified?

"My herd showed me that it can. That understanding and generosity of spirit is alive and well in the pachyderm kingdom; that elephants are emotional, caring and extremely intelligent; and that they value good relations with humans.

"This is their story. They taught me that all life forms are important to each other in our common quest for happiness and survival. That there is more to life than just yourself, your own family, or your own kind."

The story can be seen in one vein as the age old struggle between the primal savagery of trigger happy men killing for the thrill of it, and wiser minds trying to protect wildlife, knowing humankind's future is at stake. It perplexes me how our blinkered cognitive processes exhibit such vagaries, even though knowing of the fickleness of evolution's trials and the influences of subjective experiences.

"It was something I simply couldn’t fathom … what type of person would shoot a terrified teenage elephant, and a female at that? For a tawdry fireside trophy? For the pleasure of the kill? And what kind of reserve owner would hawk a vulnerable young animal for such a reason?"

The message comes through loud and clear, that to truly protect any life form is to protect all by living in respectful coexistence with all life forms in the natural world model of life fueled by life. In such, death and the recycling of essential elements is a necessary precursor to new life in Earth's closed system of physical life.

"Death is an integral part of life. This is the dominant bush reality and I like it that way. It’s natural, uncluttered by materialism or artificial ethics and it helps me to maintain a wholesome perspective of my own existence and that of my friends and family."

Yet, in this book I was also amazed by the cognitive processes of the wildlife, especially the elephants. Whatever the explanations, it is beyond doubt that these creatures have senses far superior to ours, and more acute life forces. What have we lost in our human bubble?

"We also have to understand that there are things we cannot understand. Elephants possess qualities and abilities well beyond the means of science to decipher. Elephants cannot repair a computer, but they do have communication, physical and metaphysical, that would make Bill Gates’s mouth drop open. In some very important ways they are ahead of us."

Lest one get the wrong idea, reading this story is definitely not wading through didactical musings. It is for the most part presented as an engrossing adventure in an edge of the seat manner. Could you retain your cool with a charging bull elephant bearing down on you, or for that manner on finding yourself face to face with a black mamba, or even confront poachers that would happily shoot you? What is depicted are varying mesmerizing situations the author has experienced that the reader may glean the relevance of. The occasional opining is hardly noticed as such.

"Every wild thing is in tune with its surroundings, awake to its fate and in absolute harmony with the planet. Their attention is focused totally outwards. Humans, on the other hand, tend to focus introspectively on their own lives too often, brooding and magnifying problems that the animal kingdom would not waste a millisecond of energy upon. To most people, the magnificent order of the natural world where life and death actually mean something has become unrecognizable."

In closing I should note that in March of 2012 the author Lawrence Anthony passed away. As reported by the CBC on July 25, 2012, "After his death, although they were not alerted to the event, a group of wild elephants Anthony helped to rescue and rehabilitate travelled to his house in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. They stood around the house in an apparent vigil for two days, and then dispersed. Today, the elephants are 'completely wild and doing fine' according to Graham Spence, Anthony's brother-in-law and co-author of three books."

The imaginative concoctions of too much of storytelling these days don't elicit anyway near the real life emotional swings and metaphysical aspects inherent in this book.

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” ― Henry David Thoreau
Show Less
LibraryThing member Castlelass
“In 1999, I was asked to accept a herd of troubled wild elephants on my game reserve. I had no inkling of the escapades and adventures I was about to embark upon. I had no idea how challenging it would be or how much my life would be enriched. The adventure has been both physical and spiritual.
Show More
Physical in the sense that it was action from the word go, as you will see in the following pages; spiritual because these giants of the planet took me deep into their world.” – Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer

Fascinating memoir of the adventurous life of wildlife conservationist Lawrence Anthony, head of Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, Kwa-Zulu Natal province, South Africa. In the early years of his custodianship of Thula Thula, he took in a herd of troubled elephants who were about to be destroyed. This is the story of how he developed a special relationship with these animals to help them get over their belligerent dealings with humans. He lived in the bush next to them as they adapted to life in the wilds of the reserve. It shows how humans and animals can form close bonds and how animals communicate in ways we do not always understand.

This book is so much more than a “book about elephants,” though they play a starring role. It covers interactions with a wide range of other wildlife, including the leopard, hyena, kudu, lion, rhino, cape buffalo, crocodile, and more. His pet dogs are featured, and human interactions are not neglected. It was particularly interesting to read of his dealings with poachers, rangers, officials, and Zulu leaders. In fact, it includes a great deal of history, culture, traditions, spiritual beliefs of the neighboring Zulu tribes, as well as the impact of the former apartheid policies.

This book contains story after story of wild adventures that take place over an undefined number of years, which are well-chosen for their level of significance, adventure, danger, or comedic effect. For example, there are stories of trying to herd a mfezi (Mozambican spitting cobra) out of his and his wife’s bedroom and an escaping cape buffalo that chases one of the reserve staff around a vehicle. The book flows in a “never-a-dull-moment” style, though the writing is choppy at times and the book is really more a series of short episodes rather than single a cohesive story. The elephants are the “characters,” and each has a distinct personality. The author employs humor but does not shy away from the gut-wrenching and sad parts of the life in the African wilderness.

I was so enthralled that I kept telling my friends and family about these anecdotes and was inspired to do further research. This book will appeal to anyone with a passion for animals, concern about wildlife conservation, or desire to find out what it is like to operate a game preserve in Africa.

“But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those 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
Show Less
LibraryThing member bangerlm
Wonderful story that demonstrates how much there is still yet to learn about our world. If more people could show the amount of empathy Anthony showed to the elephants, to each other, and to animal kind I think the world would be a lovelier place to live.
LibraryThing member debbie13410
A big hearted South African who loves the animals of the wild buys a wildlife reserve and provides a safe refuge for these animals. The biggest (literally) was a herd of 7 elephants who only wanted to escape. This is there story. Great read.

Language

Original publication date

2009

ISBN

9780312565787
Page: 0.68 seconds