Psychic Sense
Bibliotherapy is a good metaphor for my life. I think it’s safe to say that I was hooked on books from the first time my mother read me a story. I have no idea what the story might have been although I remember that one story triggered a lifelong passion in me: elephants.
The story was, of course, “Dumbo, The Flying Elephant”.
The flying bit was not what interested me; it was the baby elephant himself. Dumbo was my first introduction to the world of animals, a world in which animals communicated with each other but were a mystery to us. As children do, I must have asked to be read the story hundreds of times although I had committed it to memory after the first few times and even pretended I was ‘reading’ by reciting it as I turned the pages. Whatever the cause, elephants have remained at the center of my pantheon and I try never to miss an opportunity to spend time observing them in the wild and, when possible, feeding semi-tame elephants in protected reserves. Finding a book about the rescue and rehabilitation of wild elephants destined to be culled brought my two great loves together.
Psychic Sense
“The Elephant Whisperer” will leave a deep impression on those who read it. It is an amazing story of inter-species co-existence, communication, and eventual bonding. Lawrence Anthony, the man National Geographic called The Elephant Whisperer, is a South African with a passion for animals and a lifetime commitment to protecting them from the encroachment of humans into their habitats. His nature reserve, Thula Thula, deep in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal became a haven for a herd of ‘unruly’ elephants. In fact, most of them were survivors of culls that had robbed them of their closest family members. Many of the survivors were deeply traumatised by the slaughter and retained the memory of the smell of the human killers and the crack of their high-powered hunting rifles designed to kill elephants and rhino from a ‘safe’ distance. These elephants were a ragtag collection, unrelated by blood in many cases, and thrown together with scant regard for the niceties of elephant social structure.
Thula Thula itself was not designed for elephants. A wide variety of African wildlife were already living on the reserve when the elephants arrived. The setting-up and running of a game reserve is a mammoth (pun intended!) undertaking but accommodating elephants requires the highest level of security and a guaranteed source of food and water. In the arid bush of Zululand, humans and animals were both on the edge of survival but at 6’3″ and with a hefty frame and the appetite to go with it, Lawrence seemed to be ideal for the task of establishing and running Thula Thula as an eco-reserve with eventual guest accommodation and freshly cooked meals prepared by his elegant French wife, Françoise. As delicate as her husband is sturdy, Françoise nonetheless adapted to life in the African wilderness with remarkable courage and tenacity. It was often her forethought and attention to the practical matters of running a business that helped Lawrence to deal with the challenges, animal and human, that Thula Thula threw at him.
What I found most remarkable about the book–apart from the dizzying whirlwind romance with Françoise–was Lawrence’s creative approach to winning over the initially hostile and violent members of the herd. He knew elephants were intelligent but they also seemed to be psychic at times, often anticipating his next move before he had formulated it! Ironically, it was this level of subtle understanding on the part of the elephants that led Lawrence to his successful bonding with them. But that was a long time coming. What happens in between the phone call that eventuated in the arrival of the angry elephants and the beginning of understanding and trust between several members of both species is the stuff legends are made of. I suspect that the legend of “The Elephant Whisperer” will be told and re-told in front of the nightly fires of Zululand for a long time to come–IF people like Lawrence and local tribal chiefs are allowed the freedom to make decisions without political agendas and based on the philosophy of mutual survival.
Recommended by Delia
If you would like to read the remarkable story of ”The Elephant Whisperer” yourself, you will find it in both print and Kindle editions at my Amazon aStore; just click on the picture “Recommended by Delia” – you will aboslutely love it!
Alternatively, click HERE.
Photo credit: Graham Spence
[...] explain the steps to you, I will use the example below on the new website “Psychic Readings Online“, where author Delia O’Riordan recommends the book “The Elephant Whisperer” [...]