Review by Jill Hedgecock
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence (2012, St. Martin’s Griffin, paperback, 384 pages, $10.63) is the fascinating true account of Lawrence Anthony’s experiences after introducing a small herd of rogue elephants into his Thula Thula game reserve, an area of approximately 5,000 acres of pristine bush in South Africa. The adventure does not start well when the elephants break out of their enclosure. Anthony gets in a helicopter to track them down while his wife takes to the road. As Anthony’s wife, Francois, desperately questions the locals on whether they’ve seen these giant animals, the tribes people have no idea what she’s asking. Elephants had been extirpated from this area before they were born. The runaways are rounded up, but are in imminent danger of being killed if they break out again, so Anthony, whose original intention was to discourage human-elephant interaction, is forced to befriend the herd.
In addition to heart-rending and occasionally terrifying accounts of Lawrence’s encounters with these three-ton beasts, the book explores the politics of running a game reserve, the delightful as well as idiosyncrasies of Zulu culture, the darkest consequences of trophy hunting and poaching practices, and the mysterious beliefs surrounding native witchcraft. Along the way, readers experience the hazards of South African weather, snakes and crocodiles.
Throughout the narrative, Anthony’s absolute respect and love for the animals of Thula Thula, both wild and domestic, shines through the pages. But it is the elephants that captivate. From this book I learned the extent of how sensitive and tactile these creatures are. How intention and the sound of a human voice can transform these intelligent giant animals from an emotional state of malevolence and distrust to a condition of utter gentleness.
At the end of this book, I was left with the absolute conviction that to be a true advocate for the wildlife in Africa is to commit acts of heroism again and again and again. In 2003, Anthony founded The Earth Organization, a non-profit group with a mission to reverse the dwindling spiral of plant and animal kingdoms through education and action. To learn more and to see a video of Anthony interacting with an elephant, visit www.earthorganization.org. Lawrence’s other books include Babylon’s Ark : The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo (2007) recounting his efforts to help the zoo animals during the Iraq war. He received the UN’s Earth Day award for this work in Baghdad. His last novel, The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Creatures (2013), was published after his untimely death from heart failure on March 2, 2012. Fortunately, his voice will live on through the books he left behind and his nonprofit organization. The Elephant Whisperer is one of those books that takes ahold of you and leaves behind lasting vivid memories. The audio version of this book, which was how I read it, was an Audie Award Winner in the Biography/Memoir category in 2014.
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