At the far end of Cape Town, the city nominated as the top tourist destination in 2011, as you travel towards Cape Point, there are 330 hectares of wilderness space  with panoramic views of mountains and ocean, that needs restoring. The discouraged owner, whose original dream was to keep some space for wild animals, birds, buck, flowers and insect that live in the fynbos floral kingdom endemic to the Cape, has given up. Not enough support. The land has become desertified and the animals are being sold. The buffalo have already left. Soon to leave are the eland and the springbok. We need someone with vision, finances and a conservationary heart to attend the auction to secure this unique treasure and restore it to its natural balance and beauty once again.

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The night before the buffaloes left Shaggy told me she did want to leave. Heavily pregnant, she was not sure she could survive the thirty hour journey. It would be hot and clammy within the metal walls of the truck and she may have to stand the entire journey.

The next day they first darted Zeus, her partner. His front legs crumpled mid-stride and his huge, heaving muscles shrunk under his black, sweating hide. His heavy head of horns crashed into the hard earth. Disembowelled dirt flew into the air amidst a displaced cloud of dust. Then there was a deathly silence.

‘Quick’, turn him on his side so he can breathe’. Forty black hands belonging to twenty male bodies hired from the township next door sprung into action. Mission accomplished, Zeus now lay on his side, and they began to lift his 2000kg bulk onto the waiting truck. It was now their muscles that were tense with sweat that slid down smooth-skinned cheeks moving rhythmically with the song they were singing to work in unison.

Almost there, but as they toil and tense with increased effort to lift the great beast onto the threshold of the truck, one man buckles and they all collapse like dominoes. Zeus crashes to the ground for a second time. Surprisingly he sleeps on. They stagger to their feet like drunk men, but courageously continue, lifting him onto a low level Mazda bakkie this time before transferring him onto the high level truck.

Soon after they slam shut the tail gate shut he is awake. With red-eyed rage he rapidly explodes into action. The truck shudders and we wander whether the sides will split as Zeus catapults his great bulk against his jail walls.

The rest of the herd are unsettled. Fear begins to rise in their veins, searing from their hooves upwards. Big-hearted Shaggy senses their rising panic and calls gently, soothing their terror and rubbing against the little ones to comfort them. One by one they are darted and fall. One by one they are carried by the fatiguing muscled arms of the black men and loaded onto a separate truck to the powerful bull. He has been darted again, with a tranquilizer this time, and calms down to a threatening head shake of his expansive horns.

Shaggy is last and having calmed everyone else she faces her terror alone. She runs. The dart spikes her rump and she crumples. She can feel the paralyzing liquid enter her brain, but she fights on, stands up, and runs again. Another dart pierces the opposite rump. She loses her footing and twists to the ground, instinctively protecting her pregnant belly. ‘That’s it, she is the last’, the captor shouts with triumphant exhaustion, and then, ‘Bloody hell, she’s up again’. Shaggy made one last escape attempt and then sank into blackness.

The empty land echoes their departure and we grieve. We saw them go, but how much is taken from us day by day, minute by minute, that we do not see disappear, but we feel the departure in the belly of our being, and we mourn. We don’t see the trees felled down by bulldozers in the Amazon jungle, but deep down we hear them fall. We don’t see the wild dog trapped, squirming to get loose from the jaws of the snare around his waist. We don’t see his pack yelp and dart from side to side, helpless to free their leader from the iron teeth, but we know as we plunder the land and her inhabitants we lose sight of community and the ‘connectedness of things’ that hold us interdependently together.

We act as if we don’t care when the last leopard is shot and we then complain that there are too many baboons. Or we cull the elephants who open up and prune the bushveld vegetation so that the land remains self-regenerating and complain that there is too much grass and too many bush fires.

Although we live in high rise buildings with not even a plant to green the interior, deep down, nature calls. We evolved in adaptation to nature and wander why we are so maladjusted to city life that brings self-focused separation from one another, pollution and depression.

Mandy Young, EcoPsychologist, has spent many years observing animals with social behaviour – wild dogs, elephants, meerkats, dolphins, white lions and mountain gorillas. She invites you to respond to the inner call that draws you back to your natural roots. She invites you to journey with her into wilderness places and through facilitated self-reflective group discussions to reconnect with your intuition and Creator-designed uniqueness.

Nature is nurturing and in wild places we find wisdom: ancient wisdom you inherently know. Initially as you awake from emotional bleakness you may tingle or even feel pain, sometimes a little overwhelmed, but you can manage, because you are not alone. Your fellow travellers are waking too. Mandy holds a gentle space as you rest your fragile psyches in the arms of Mother Nature. This is a place where bruises can heal and there is a balm that allows the heart to open. Pain can be purifying and out of the ashes a flower grows.

Nature Calls, www.naturecalls.co.za, is an adventure and an exploration. A reawakening of passion and a transformation of soul through personal life insights that pave the way for love – of self, of others, of the earth and ultimately a reconnection with a Creator that planned for all living things to live side-by-side.

On 4th June, 2003 baby Argente, was born to Honi the buffalo herd leader: the first buffalo to be born on the Cape Peninsula in more than 330 years. The buffalos were introduced to Solole game reserve by a man of vision and passion, who believed human population expansion is taking up too much of the earth and he wanted to preserve some for the animals. So what started as a one-hectare plot in suburban Sunnydale, near Fish Hoek, has grown into a 300ha reserve for antelope and buffalo.

The Solole reserve is opposite Masiphumelele, extending into the Roodeberg mountains. Driving through the urban sprawl, it’s difficult to believe there could be buffalo living there. Living on the edge of Solole is a dream come true, I have always wanted to live on the edge of a waterhole in a game reserve, but I could not afford to do so and support myself. Now I live here and have the best of both worlds. Buffalos have a reputation for being cantankerous, but they are actually very social, tactile and intelligent. Each buffalo is unique, each has its own personality. Shaggy is my favorite, she will always leave the herd and walk straight towards me if I am around, just to say hello. She is also a successful mother. The herd now numbers ten.

Early Morning Visit from the Buffalo Herd

Sadly financial plans at Solole have not been successful and the buffalos have been sold, possibly to a man who has recently been released on bail for rhino poaching. It would be sad to see them leave for good and we are concerned that they will be travelling to a breeding center in the Northern province hundreds of kilometers away, squashed together for a long road journey in the intense December heat.

If you would like to see at least some of the buffalos stay in the Cape an urgent financial investment is required: their due departure date is only 2 days away – Tuesday, 13th December, 2011. Please contact me on mandy@peace-of-eden.co.za to find out how to keep the buffalo in the Cape.

When Solole was in its prime, the water hole filled up, and the animals thrived.

As you know, on my journey to becoming an EcoPsychologist, I begun observing animals with social behavior 21 years ago. As a result several conservation issues have been heartfelt, more recently the departure of the buffalos who have become welcome visitors on the doorstep of my home bordering Solole game reserve.

To know more about this journey with the animals and other current wildlife tragedies read further.

I began observing painted hunting dogs, elephants, mountain gorillas and white lions, walked with wild meerkats and swum with dolphins. ‘The successful relationship and survival dynamics they use have provided me with valuable life insights and an understanding that we need nature for a sense of wellbeing and reconnection – with ourselves, others , the earth and our Creator, but in turn they need us to protect them.

More recently conservation challenges seem to have been left on my dorrstep. They usually arrive unexpectedly. The fist was during a period of time when I was observing the difference in elephant mothering behavior at a small reserve in KwaZulu Natal. My research focus was interesting because I was comparing the mothering behavior of elephants who had grown up with their families intact, with the Orphaned elephants whose families had been culled when they were youngsters. The truths I was learning resulted in EcoTours to provide others with a similar self-discovery experience, African bush style. On arrival for a ‘Wisdom of Elephants’ experience in 2005 I was told Nduna had been shot. Nduna is an elephant bull with great stature and character. His name means ‘Chief’ in the Zulu language. He enjoyed communicating and would often wander close and just hang out. When I asked, ‘why was he shot’, the response was, ‘He has been on a walk-about for several days and we keep having to find him and bring him back’. Apparently, like a pied piper he attracted the allegiance of many children on his rural strolls. They had never seen an elephant before. Elephants used to live in this homeland before these children were born, 100 years ago, but they were hunted and their land was taken for agricultural development, until there was not even one elephant left. The land owner thought, ‘This bull is loveable, but he is costing money, maybe I should sell him to a hunter for a trophy, he has great tusks’. The hunter boarded a plane and arrived with his gun. Nduna stepped out onto the grassy runway behind the Lodge and a bullet sunk into his skull. The hunter took the tusks and feet back to Italy, the meat was cut up for the staff as the rest of the elephant herd hovered around, aware their chief was being dissembled into small pieces. His bones were buried.

Young returned to her Cape town home pregnant with grief and a few days later journeying towards Oudtshoorn she mourned her gentle friend by walking a labyrinth made with circles of rose quartz. It was during this meditative walk that she received a message from Nduna through an animal interspecies communicator. Nduna said:

Nduna - the Chief

‘I have passed many younger lazy days in the African heat. I walked, sometimes with freedom sometimes with shackles. What I later came to realize was that it was my walk, my path was mine by choice not by fate or destiny. Or rather, that fate and destiny where my own making. I grew to realize that beyond the anger of victim hood and helplessness was the calm knowingness that comes with ripening years, that indeed all those footprints that lay behind me were where they were meant to be. Where I intended for them to be.

I saw younger ones come…and go. I saw what I did not want to see and I felt what I did not want to feel. The heat began to feel oppressive as the humans drove us deeper and deeper into territory that was never meant to be ours. Trapped, many of us tried to get out, longing for the freedom of open paths.

This is how I spent my younger days, lost in the difficulty and hardship. Frustrated and angry. Later in my life, a time came when I saw a light shining through a human man. This light reminded me that all life is sacred. That sacredness had been lost while we sat in the balance of destruction and evolution. In the centre of that light, I was reminded of Divine order, and knew that it belonged to whoever took the time to notice it. I noticed it that day. I noticed that this man was also living by it and knew that it was his light that awoken mine. Slowly my old life came back, more like a new life actually. I began to live from within, where I found my freedom. All those frustrated days I had tried to walk the path of freedom, only to find that inside of me was the greatest freedom I could ever encounter.

Once I had savored and enjoyed my fill, I knew that the time had come to teach others of my kind about this light. The more I acknowledged its presence, focused on it and used it, it grew. I knew also, that the time had come to release myself from one form of existence so that I could focus more completely into another. I chose to die, but at the same time, I chose to live. Now I occupy space in many worlds, through the physical world I am known by my legacy, and through these words my thoughts are heard and my light extended, so that I share myself now as a LIVING LEGACY. In the ethereal world, I have found my place in the forest, where the air is moist and the ground is soft. I have found richness of purpose here, and there are many who share in this lightness, and come here to be light-filled.

I am here to support, those physical and those not, elephant kind and earth kind with the freedom that comes from remembering our Truth and embracing our oneness. I embody a light, this light exists within me and through me, and it is awakened in you, for truly we are all extensions of the same Source…the same light.

Sight is not lost to the blind, for sight exists only in the inner mind.’

‘Nduna taught me that we can reach deep into our inner knowing and communicate with animals. We all can. Our ancestors used to do this all the time. It is believed in our early history there was a soul exchange between the Hunted and the Hunter, one life given for the survival of another. Killing was not so that you could have a trophy of ‘manhood’ mounted on a wall.

Beuga, the Matriarch and protector of her herd, looks down her trunk to say - Beware, don't threaten my family.

On 30th October, 2011 another elephant herd member was shot. This time it was the matriarch. Again, notification of this conservation catastrophe, from Beuga declaring that her life was at risk, came as a surprise. Beuga’s communication travelled from the reserve in KwaZulu Natal to the Timbivati where I was endulging in the inspiration provided by time spent with the White Lions and learning more about animal interspecies communication with a lovely lady very practised in this art. Beuga too has a Zulu name meaning, ‘to look’. Her name defines her. ‘She looks at you down her long trunk from a high, slanted forhead, as if to say, ‘Don’t harm my herd, I will protect them at any cost.’ As in life, in death, Beuga still protects her herd. I believe she too, like Nduna, chose to die. Nduna could have walked into the bush and the Hunter would not have found him, just as Beuga could have lead her herd into the thickets on that last day that the Destruction Permit hung over her gigantic head. They both chose to die to raise consciousness. Despite the way we treat them, elephants never forget, but they forgive. I would like to re-tells their life and death stories to support their cause, which is, humans and nature need each other. Although humans have the power to kill animals, we need to be remember the words of Ghandi, a peace-loving man, who fearlessly challenged violence, that a nation is known by the way it treats its animals.

A Baboon is now dead

Two weeks ago a baboon was shot in Fishoek, violently accused of attacking the wife of an old man. This sounds justifiable but I wander why the baboon was so threatened he would attack. The same day that I read about the old woman’s plight and the death of the baboon, I also had a visit from a male baboon. He silently entered through an open window of our home on the edge of Solole game reserve, sat on the table and helped himself to three apples. He was a in prime condition with a glossy coat. He watched as I emerged from my bedroom and chided him, ‘Oh no mate, this is my space, out!’ I was not unhappy that he had come in and taken the apples, he is an opportunist, I might do the same if there was little food available in the dry season to feed my family. I understood he needed to be strong so he can protect them. Without a fight he moved through the exit that was available and sat just outside the front door to eat the first apple. We chatted and engaged each other for a while with mutual respect. We may ask what were the circumstances that would lead another male baboon of the same species to attack a helpless women? Maybe the answer lies in the fact he was shot. What was the old man doing with a gun? Not many people in suburban dwellings keep a gun. Possibly this is how the old man, like many of us, face life – with fear and violence? Now a baboon who has no weapon, no lawyer to call upon, no newspaper editor to be his voice, so he is dead.

Healing Ourselve and Caring for our Earth and all her its inhabitants is Intertwined.

Johan Wolfgang van Goethe

Beuga's intention in Life and in Death was to Protect her Herd

That is how I would describe Beuga, bold. If she had a tomb stone it would read, born 1955, died 30th October, 2011 – mother, grandmother and great grandmother of Isandulelo, which means New Beginnings or New Dawn in Zulu,who was born a week before she died. She was the matriarch of 70 elephants, more than the so-called carrying capacity of the land of the reserve. Antares has now taken over as the new leader and when I saw the elephant herd on the shoreline a few days after her death, Betelgeuse, the sister closest to her was still nervous of us and agitated with the young bulls.

Betelgeuse, the sister and closest friend of Beuga

It was as if her death had been decided by her and the rest of the herd. The day before the destruction permit, which was illegally issued, was about to expire, the elephant herd walked out into an open space beneath the White Elephant Lodge. This is a similar area to where Nduna was shot 6 years previously. You can read about his life and death in the article I wrote for Renaissance magazine. It was my first introduction into the world of animal interspecies communication.

Heike, the researcher saw the land owner drive past. She was on her way to spend some time with the herd, now that they had been located. ‘Strange’, she thought, ‘he does not usually drive around here on a Sunday’. The herd were grazing and seemed relaxed. Heike saw a game vehicle drive closer to them. She raised her binoculars to see who it was. The land owner was sitting in the rear of the vehicle driven by the Lodge game guide and had a dart gun aimed at the elephants. Heike was confused. ‘Are they going to dart one of the bulls to vasectomise him, I did not know about this?’

Antares the new matriarch

Antares came towards the vehicle, uncomfortable with its closeness. Close behind her was Beuga, ready to protect her herd. The dart hit her between the eyes. She sauntered towards the thicket as if unaffected and then collapsed. Several of the adult elephants hovered around her body wandering what had happened. Amongst them was Ngani, just ‘off the hook’ from being in the same situation himself. Antares, Betelgeuse and Bodicea her eldest daughter. There was no noise. No squeals, only silent uncertainty before Antares lead them away from the ambush.

Death of an Elephant

The land owner cautiously waited until all the elephants had left. The dose he had darted into Beuga should ‘keep her asleep for several hours’ he thought. His next intent was to inject her with a large dose of scoline – the ‘put to sleep’ drug used on various animals. It was supposed to take effect within minutes, but she continued to breath one anaesthetized breath after another. The land owner panicked. He phoned another wildlife vet for advice. Tears in his eyes. He would now have to shoot her. He rushed past Heike, who had come nearer. Everything had happened so quickly, she was stunned. ‘I am so sorry’, he said and instructed the guide to hurry and fetch his rifle. Thirty minutes later he held the gun to her temple, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. She stopped breathing and he crumpled beside her tears plunging down his cheeks. ‘It was just like shooting a person’, is all Heike could hear him grasp as she stood behind his shuddering back.

It is important that Beuga’s death is not in vain.

It is important that permits are not issued for an elephant’s destruction when she is doing what a matriarch should do – protect those she loves. We need NEMBA Elephant Norms and Standards to be administered by a Board of Specialists who understand elephant behavior and can interpret it to those who want elephants for the wrong reasons, usually as commodities for financial gain.

Elephants are protective of those they love and the young and vulnerable

I would like to organize a documentary that tells the story of these elephants, hears the concerns of land owners, and provides a platform for the voice of elephant researchers and specialists to be heard.

I believe that not only do we need nature as much as it needs us, we are mutually interdependent for our emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing, but elephants carry a special message in the world – LINKING. If we link land and open corridors so that they can walk their natural pathways again, we will have to change, we will have to learn to share, to make decisions together and become less possessive and competitive.

It was Mandela who said, ‘you cannot change a situation unless you can change yourself’.

So let’s work together to link land. Please continue to donate here to make this possible.

I would like to organize a conference that discusses elephant management issues in small reserves. Would you attend? Who would you like to hear speak – Gay Bradshaw: Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach us About Humanity? Anthony Lawrence, The Elephant Whisperer? Rudi van Aarde, head of the Zoology Department at the University of Pretoria, Director of the Conservation Ecology Research Unit? Who else?

I am looking forward to your contribution and your feedback so that Beuga’s sacrifice to protect her herd, in life and in death, is honored through a conservation transformation in each one of us to value our interdependence with the Creator and all he has created for us to enjoy, protect and take care of with mindful responsibility.

Previous Correspondence telling this Elephant Saga:

Save Ngani, a Dominant Bull who will be Hunted Unless You Respond

Further Elephant Communications: Saving the Life of Ngani and Beuga’s Plea

Beuga

Thank you to all who responded to the appeal to raise funds to save Ngani, a dominant elephant bull from being hunted. For those of you who have not read the details you can do so here:  http://www.naturecalls.co.za/blog/ Some of you responded financially and others with heartfelt support. We are continuing to make attempts to avert his death both financially and legally. At present I am in Italy trying to enjoy our annual holiday knowing that the attempts to handle Ngani’s situation is in the hands of competent and compassionate people while I am away. As details unfold I will communicate again, but…

A snow white husky dog arrived to tell me ‘Ngani is going to be ok’. We were sitting at our favorite restaurant in Porta Ercole in Italy, the one where they make a fish cuisine that is light and almost fluffy with a tomato sauce that swirls together tastes of basil, garlic and olive oil. I trusted the dog’s sudden appearance – nobody at the local restaurant had seen him before, he was warm and affectionate in his specific devotion, then disappeared again – message delivered.

Many of you have never experienced animal inter-species communication. It happens at a level most people want to ‘pooh-pooh’ because it is unfamiliar, but is it? Even in our dire, visually dominated world with computers, facebook and iPods, we believe in love, but we can’t see it; sometimes we even pray and believe God will hear and influence our circumstances. The bushman had a deep connection with the animals they hunted and when one surrendered their soul for the life of a bushman clan, the hunter expressed deep gratitude. I would not have known of Ngani’s plight if it had not been for animal interspecies communication.

I was at a workshop being facilitated by Wynter Worsthorne an international tutor and facilitator of animal interspecies communication together with Linda Tucker, the author of the ‘The Mystery of the White Lions, Children of the Sun God’. The workshop was at Tau, the site of the White Lion Reintroduction program. I had spent time with the regal white lion, Regeus, in the morning; he had encouraged me to write more for others and less for my own indulgence, and to trust my inner knowing. We were thoughtfully seated in comfy chairs circling the spacious lounge of the White Lion center.  The eyes of Mandla, the father of Regeus, were boring into my being from his lifelike picture across the room, so when Wynter encouraged us to listen in to any animals who wanted to communicate with us I expected him to say something into the receptive silence of my soul. I was shocked when instead Beuga came through and told me her life was at risk. Beuga is the Matriarch of the herd of elephants who live in the small reserve where Ngani also lives.

Despite Regeus telling me just that morning to trust my inner knowing, I wandered whether I was going crazy. ‘Is this for real, or do I have some kind of macabre imagination’ I was asking myself. Disturbed, I asked Phillipa who has more experience at animal interspecies communication whether she would listen in. All I told Philippa was Beuga’s name, where she lived and that she was an elephant matriarch. Phillipa listened in and came back relaying the following extended message from Beuga:

‘She has been waiting for a messenger to whom she can tell her message. She is incredibly worried about her homeland and environment. The watering holes seem to be an issue. There are vibrations in the Earth and the feeling that her home is being taken over or away. (Possibly manmade developments like drilling or building are making her family uneasy). A younger ellie is pregnant and Beuga is worried about the future of the new calf in terms of food sources, etc. The younger males are acting up and She is feeling exhausted with keeping them in check, they are very worried. Food sources are low and they have to go far and wide in order to locate enough food for their needs. She’s relying on Mandy to help them. She is feeling worried, doubtful, hopeless and exhausted BUT will keep faith and hope if Mandy intervenes.’

I felt overwhelmed by this communication, what could I do? However, Beuga was right, I have subsequently found out I can do a lot of linking and through Divine Intervention I have been connected with the right people who have both passion and knowledge about elephant management. A phone call to the researcher within the small reserve where Beuga and Ngani live, and to the land owner who originally brought many of the elephants to this reserve, confirmed the accuracy of these inter-species communications:

• ‘Beuga had charged a vehicle and a destruction permit was being issued for her life to be taken;
• Ngani had been contracted to be shot by a hunter;
• the lives of the younger bulls in the reserve are being considered for hunting to attain financial gain;
• Beuga’s granddaughter had given birth to a new calf;
• the land is dry and food and water resources away from the lake are scarce;
• There has been much more hunting in the area and some road construction work that is ‘shaking the land’’.

From 2002 until 2005 I had studied the difference in mothering behavior between the elephants in this reserve who had experienced good parenting and normal family life and those who had experienced the trauma of their mothers, aunts and siblings being culled and then left bereft they were moved away from their home to a nearby reserve before choosing to live in the same reserve as Beuga and Ngani. During the years of these studies Beuga turned me over in a game vehicle. I was not with guests, but with two game guides and another researcher. On this occasion I could see she was unsure. She was moving her front left leg backwards and forwards just above the grass where she was standing. ‘She is going to charge’, I announced. ‘No, she is cool’ the retorts came back. ‘I really think she is going to charge’, I asserted. ‘Don’t worry she is cool’, Bradley, the game guide said. ‘Sorry guys, I really think she is feeling unsafe with us being so close’, I emphasized. This time I was ignored.

She ambushed us. She did not charge head long towards the front of the vehicle, but moved to the side, past two high bushes and then came from that direction. It was like a cartoon filmstrip, as she skidded to a halt alongside the vehicle. ‘Whoa girl’ Graham the other researcher said, ’you are spraying me with spit’. He was sitting closest to her arrival but did not think she would proceed.  ‘Beuga’! Bradley shouted as she put her tusk through the front right bumper and lifted the vehicle. We tilted into the air and then dropped down. She did not have a good enough grip, so her next move was to shoot her tusk through the bonnet and flip the three-tiered game vehicle onto its side. Bradley opened the door and ran before the vehicle repositioned, and Graham and the other guide flew over my head from the momentum. They managed to escape as the tarpaulin roof crashed to the ground inches from my head trapping me inside. I crawled to the front of the vehicle, sat on one door with the other above me, and the steering wheel at my side. I prayed and wandered what she would do next. In the silence I imagined her swinging her leg again, undecided. I waited.

Eventually I heard Bradley call, ‘Mandy are you alright’? There was panic in his voice. I knew then Beuga had moved off. She could have killed me, she could have continued to roll the vehicle, but she had not. I was very proud that she had been such a good mother in trying to protect her herd from what felt threatening.  Beuga is appropriately protective of her herd because of past experiences when she felt so vulnerable. To her understanding she was chased, together with her family, by a huge, noisy, metallic bird that shot something into her motoring rear end. She was living in Kruger National Park at the time. When the darts did their anaesthetizing work she, and her family, experienced a deep haziness and woke up in the confines of a truck travelling towards their new home – the reserve where they now live. She must have thought, ‘I was responsible for their safety how could I let this happen to my herd?’ She may have had the same feeling of shame, disempowerment and rage months before the translocation when a land rover that looked like a game vehicle sauntered past her family, hovered too long and then shot her daughter’s two year old. ‘Why did I not stop this senseless death either?, she might have asked herself as the memory pierces through her clouded, confused thoughts, and then decided,  ‘I have to be  more vigilant’.

Ecologists, Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson, authors of Walking Thunder, write on the 27^th July, 2011:

‘In the 1980s, over 600,000 elephants – more than half the total African pachyderm population – were destroyed for the hanko stamps so sought after by the Japanese. At the height of the slaughter, 70,000 a year were being killed. Kenya burned tons of confiscated ivory in 1989 in a gesture of defiance to the rest of the world. The message? The slaughter of the innocents and the ivory trade has to stop. The killing of whales and elephants constitute the twin arms of the crucifix of the greatest non- human genocide of our time. Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, even remarked that to save the elephant ‘is an urgent moral imperative’ and that this might well be our last chance to save them – and ourselves – from oblivion. If we lose the elephant, many other species will unravel, including ours.’

I believe that today the whole of creation groans, waits patiently, until we become the humans we were created to be. Healing ourselves and living out our God-ordained responsibility towards the care of the Earth are intertwined. Elephants are messengers of linking: in order for them to walk their ancient pathways again land needs to be linked, but this can only happen if there is a change in the attitude of humans away from possessing land towards cooperating together to share land.

In Indian culture the elephant God is the cornerstone of breakthrough, a pillar of the Hindu civilization; in the Zulu cultures the elephant is an icon; the Samburu tell how a crippled man was protected from lions by several bull elephants and the Maasai tell of how a women gave birth to a son with the protection of elephants who built a protective hedge of acacia thorn around her to keep the hyenas away during her hours of labour. In Kenya during times of drought elephants helped tribal people find water and they in turn provided honey for the elephants. We used to live comfortably side by side until the human population exploded, we lost our souls and we increasingly encroached on their habitat, putting up fences and forgetting that they too have a soul.

Recently Gay Bradshaw, Ecologist and Psychologist, released her book, ‘Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach us about Humanity’. There is scientific proof that elephants pass ‘the mirror test’ they are proven to have a sense of self – they know uniquely who they are, they are capable of knowing where their elephant skin stops and another ‘skin’ starts; they are capable of complicated social relationships and of continuity and a sense of history. As understandings of trans-species psychiatry advance it is the elephants who give us guidance towards recovery from trauma, it is they who are able to forgive and reach towards reconciliation, across species, in order to halt ongoing human genocidal actions.

It is for this reason the story of Ngani, Beuga, the Orphans and their families need to be told. We continue to appeal for funds that can be sent to either bank account detailed below so that we can save Ngani and Beuga and make a documentary that will express their message and that of specialists – animal interspecies communicators, ecopsychologists, Ttouch masseurs – researchers, ecologists and organizations like Space for Elephants so that humans can begin to be the best they were created to be and nature can celebrate and breathe a sigh of relief.

Save SGR Elephants (SGR = Small Game Reserve)
Account no. 62326189364
Branch code: 250655
International Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ(XXX)

Space for Elephants Foundation
ABSA bank Pongola
Branch Code: 334-724
Account No: 4055718662

Whichever option you choose please will send an indication of your payment to Mandy Young at wildtree@iafrica.com, who you are and your reasons for contribution so that I can respond to your generosity.

Ngani enjoying the peace of the small reserve where he lives

His current role in this reserve is to not only educate the young bulls and take special care of the Orphans (the story of how he encouraged them to join him in this reserve is told a little later), he has sired 90% of the new elephant generation and is the protector of the whole herd. When he is around the elephant Matriarch, critical to the intricate network of social relationships within the herd, is relaxed – his size and wisdom has a settling effect in the whole elephant population at PGR.

Sadly, two years ago he was sold to a hunter.

In small reserves elephant management is challenging and although one of the land owner’s fulfilled his childhood dream by bringing elephants back to this reserve, he was under pressure to get rid of this magnificent elephant. This land owner became discouraged by the ongoing complaints of fellow land owners who were concerned that the elephant population was increasing to beyond the carrying capacity of this small reserve.  The bulls were always blamed for habitat destruction but few recognize that elephants feed in a conservationary way that changes the landscape from thick thorny scrub to a more open landscape and thus create ecological systems that make life better for many animal, bird and plant species who make their homes and feed from vegetation they can now access and pioneer grasses are able to reproduce under the protective shade of toppled trees. Many also do not recognize these important cycles of change in habitats are beneficial over time. Recent research has also indicated that undulates – buck species, are more responsible for habitat degradation than elephants, because they eat the little shoots that never get to grow into larger trees. Their actions are less visible to the untrained eye.

The hunter decided not to hunt Ngani immediately he was purchased as he was not ‘big’ enough for a trophy. In his wisdom and defence Ngani engaged in some sort of fight or activity that led to the loss of the majority of his right tusk.

Ngani broke his tusk

The owner was worried that Ngani’s right tusk may become infected and an exposed nerve would lead to aggressive behavior, or that Ngani would make use of his ‘good left tusk’ too much and cause a break in the latter, too. This would mean that his value as a trophy would be affected. The hunter halved the amount he was willing to pay for Ngani because he now only had one tusk.

As the breakage in Ngani’s tusk in no way changed his character, the owner wanted to keep Ngani alive. The plea to the hunter for Ngani to be re-purchased was strongly endorsed by Space for Elephants, the researcher in the reserve and an Ecopsychologist who had researched the mothering behavior of these elephants.

Ngani is quite a character with a big heart and lots of courage. When he first arrived at Pongola Game Reserve he followed Douw and Joachen around, as young elephant bulls do – to learn from their elders. This is one of the significant roles Ngani now fulfills at Pongola Game Reserve, having sired many of the new elephant arrivals over the last 13 years; he passes on his wisdom teaching the younger bulls about how to behave and where to feed.

Unfortunately one of his earlier mentor’s, Douw was killed on the train line and his other mentor, Joachen, almost lead him astray. Joachen broke out of Pongola Game Reserve, with Ngani initially in tow, not too long after their arrival because none of the ladies there were in estrous and Joachen was bulging with musth-full  testosterone.

Joachen was not used to the fences man put up to protect his habitat. He was used to the wider spaces that he roamed at the Kruger National Park. Unfortunately his inexperience led to his demise as he had eaten a few crops and caused some havoc amongst his human neighbours. A permit was issued by Kwa-Zulu Natal Parks Board for him to be shot. Ngani, was not in musth, but curious. He did not continue to follow Joachen after they both broke out, but went on his own adventure. He visited the ‘Orphans’ who lived forty kilometers from PGR at a reserve called Milimani (now known as Somkhanda). There were four adolescent elephant cows in the Orphan herd, which were later named Charm, Constant, Charisma and Curve and one adolescent elephant bull, later named Tusker. They were orphaned as three to five year old youngsters during a big elephant cull that took place at Kruger National Park in the late 1980’s. The cull happened because humans thought there were too many elephants living there. Charm, Charisma, Constant, Curve and Tusker watched as their mother, aunts and older siblings were shot.

We are not sure what communication went on between Ngani and the Orphans after he left to return to PGR, but we believe that because of his big heart he encouraged them to join him at PGR where there was plenty of food and water, and more importantly where they could learn from and become a part of the two elephant families who already lived there. Ngani in his wisdom knew that the Orphan ladies were about to become capable of calf-bearing. Maybe he had other more naughty thoughts as well?

As a result of Ngani’s visit and his ongoing communication with the small Orphan Herd, fifteen months after his visit, they walked into Pongola Game Reserve along the same route he had left to visit them. He was at the fence to meet them and they broke in.
Ngani’s connection with the Orphans highlights  human – elephant conflict issues: when man builds fences elephants have to live with constraints that inhibit their natural lifestyles. If they break out, their neighbours feel threatened and if they don’t, the land owners where they live complain that they are degrading the natural habitat and minimizing certain other indigenous species of flora and fauna. Thus Ngani became the inspiration and icon for Space for Elephants (please see website for more info about SEF: http://www.space4elephants.org/), an organization that tries to work with land owners and neighbours to ‘drop their fences’ so that land can be linked and elephants can walk their natural pathways again. The gift of the elephant species in our modern day lifestyles is to link us – to each other and to former lifestyles where animals and humans lived side-by-side respectful of our essential interdependence. Space for Elephants are active in trying to extend the space the elephants enjoy at PGR to include a further 17,000 hectares of land in the Pongola Poort area. The ultimate aim is to link Pongola Game Reserve to Mkhuze Game Reserve, a distance of 65 kilometers. It would be wonderful to have a Pongola / Lebombo / Mkhuze Peace Park.

Ngani as the dominant bull at PGR has grown in stature. His ongoing life is critically interlinked with the mentorship and protection of the elephant population of Pongola Game Reserve, but he has a greater voice to link people so that space is created for elephants to roam their natural pathways again. As human populations increase and wilderness places are encroached by human habitation and activity, it is essential to hear the voice of Ngani, so that all species on our earth can live together in harmony as we used to do. Ngani reflects the voice of  Mandela who said at the recent opening of another shared space where animals and humans live together across international boundaries, at  the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Park, ‘I know of no political movement, no philosophy, no ideology which does not agree with the peace parks concept as we see it in fruition today. It is a concept that can be embraced by all. In a world beset by conflicts and division peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace parks are a building block in the process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world.” (Cape Times, Monday 22nd August, 2011).
If we do not have the monies available by 16th September, 2011 to repurchase Ngani the hunter will arrive to hunt him on 17th October 2011.
 

The people who know and love Ngani also realize that no price would ever come near to his actual worth: his wisdom, his mentorship abilities and his actions in the past have made this very clear. He has taught us humans so much, including compassion. His death would devastate not only the herds of the Reserve but also anybody with knowledge of elephants and their importance!
 

Even though we feel that the hunter is exploiting the situation by asking for the very high price mentioned, we need to save him and therefore require this funding.
If you are willing to contribute there are several places where you can place the funding:

Save SGR Elephants (SGR  = Small Game Reserve)
Account no. 62326189364
Branch code: 250655
International Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ(XXX) 

Space for Elephants Foundation
ABSA bank Pongola
Branch Code: 334-724
Account No: 4055718662

Whichever option you choose please will send an indication of your payment to Mandy Young at wildtree@iafrica.com, who you are and your reasons for contribution so that I can respond to your generosity.

Please would you also indicate whether you would like your money return if enough is raised for Ngani’s repayment over and above your contribution, or whether you are willing for this funding to be used for a Documentary that details the challenges of Elephant Management in Small Game Reserves. Through this Documentary we would like to:

1. Tell the stories of these special elephants to raise awareness that elephants have a sense of who they are, intricate social relationships and they feel.

2. Hear the voices of all the land owners in the hope that the elephants would work their magic which is to not only to link land through Space for Elephants so that they can work their ancient pathways again, but also connect these land owners with a similar vision to live together and to live interdependently with nature that surrounds them.

3. Hear the voices of the experts:
a. Gay Bradshaw – author of Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach us about Humanity
c. Digs Pascoe – chair person of Space for Elephants
d. Audrey Delsink Kettles and Heike Zitzer– specialist and researcher respectively of Elephant Management and Contraception.
e. Bruce Page and Wayne Mathews – Ecologists, Researchers and Elephant Behavior Specialists.
f. Mandy Young – EcoPsychologist with research expertise with animals with social
behavior.

Kind regards.
Mandy Young
 EcoPsychologist
Corporate Wildlife Team Building Facilitator
Mobile: 082 445 4142
Fax: 0866 706 274
Skype:  Peace-of-Eden
Web Sites: www.peace-of-eden.co.za ;  Email: mandy@peace-of-eden.co.za
www.swim-with-dolphins.co.za; Email: mandy@swim-with-dolphins.co.za
www.ecoguidesouthernafrica.com; Email: mandy@ecoguidesouthernafrica.com
www.naturecalls.co.za; Email: info@corporate-wildlife-teambuilding-adventures.com

Lewis Pugh

Wherever you damage the environment you have conflict 

Just in a Speedo

Ladies and gentlemen, thank for the opportunity to address you.

Lewis Pugh a.k.a. the Human Polar Bear

My name is Lewis Pugh. This evening, I want to take you back to the early 1990′s in this country. You may remember them well. Nelson Mandela had been released. There was euphoria in the air. However, there was also widespread violence and deep fear. This country teetered on the brink of a civil war. But somehow, somehow, we averted it. It was a miracle!

And it happened because we had incredible leaders. Leaders who sought calm.. Leaders who had vision. So in spite of all the violence, they sat down and negotiated a New Constitution. I will never forget holding the Constitution in my hands for the first time. I was a young law student at the University of Cape Town. This was the cement that brought peace to our land.

This was the document, which held our country together. The rights contained herein, made us one. I remember thinking to myself – never again will the Rights of South Africans be trampled upon. Now every one of us – every man and every women – black, white, coloured, Indian, believer and non believer – has the right to vote. We all have the Right to Life. And our children have the right to a basic education.

These rights are enshrined in our Constitution. These rights were the dreams of Oliver Tambo. These rights were the dreams of Nelson Mandela. These rights were the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi, of Desmond Tutu and of Molly Blackburn. These rights were our dreams. People fought and died so that we could enjoy these rights today. Also enshrined in our Constitution, is the Right to a Healthy Environment and the Right to Water. Our Constitution states that we have the Right to have our environment protected for the benefit of our generation and for the benefit of future generations.

Fellow South Africans, let us not dishonour these rights. Let us not dishonour those men and women who fought and died for these rights. Let us not allow corporate greed to disrespect our Constitution and desecrate our environment.

Never, ever did I think that there would be a debate in this arid country about which was more important gas or water. We can survive without gas…. We cannot live without water. If we damage our limited water supply and fracking will do just that we will have conflict again here in South Africa.

Look around the world. Wherever you damage the environment you have conflict. Fellow South Africans, we have had enough conflict in this land now is the time for peace. A few months ago I gave a speech with former President of Costa Rica. Afterwards I asked him “Mr President, how do you balance the demands of development against the need to protect the environment?” He looked at me and said : “It is not a balancing act. It is a simple business decision. If we cut down our forests in Costa Rica to satisfy a timber company, what will be left for our future?” But he pointed out : “It is also a moral decision. It would be morally wrong to chop down our forests and leave nothing for my children and my grandchildren.” Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is at stake here today: Our children’s future. And that of our children s children. There may be gas beneath our ground in the Karoo. But are we prepared to destroy our environment for 5 to 10 years worth of fossil fuel and further damage our climate? Yes, people will be employed but for a short while. And when the drilling is over, and Shell have packed their bags and disappeared, then what? Who will be there to clean up? And what jobs will our children be able to eke out? Now Shell will tell you that their intentions are honourable. That fracking in the Karoo will not damage our environment. That they will not contaminate our precious water. That they will bring jobs to South Africa. That gas is clean and green. And that they will help secure our energy supplies. When I hear this I have one burning question. Why should we trust them? Africa is to Shell what the Gulf of Mexico is to BP. Shell, you have a shocking record here in Africa. Just look at your operations in Nigeria. You have spilt more than 9 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta. That’s twice the amount of oil that BP spilt into the Gulf of Mexico. You were found guilty of bribing Nigerian officials and to make the case go away in America – you paid an admission of guilt fine of US$48 million. And to top it all, you stand accused of being complicit in the execution of Nigeria’s leading environmental campaigner Ken Saro-Wira and 8 other activists. If you were innocent, why did you pay US$15.5 million to the widows and children to settle the case out of Court? Shell, the path you want us to take us down is not sustainable. I have visited the Arctic for 7 summers in a row. I have seen the tundra thawing. I have seen the retreating glaciers. And I have seen the melting sea ice. And I have seen the impact of global warming from the Himalayas all the way down to the low-lying Maldive Islands. Wherever I go I see it. Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay! Shell, we look to the north of our continent and we see how people got tired of political tyranny. We have watched as despots, who have ruled ruthlessly year after year, have been toppled in a matter of weeks. We too are tired. Tired of corporate tyranny. Tired of your short term, unsustainable practices. We watched as Dr Ian Player, a game ranger from Natal, and his friends, took on Rio Tinto (one of the biggest mining companies in the world) and won. And we watched as young activists from across Europe, brought you down to your knees, when you tried to dump an enormous oil rig into the North Sea. Shell, we do not want our Karoo to become another Niger Delta. Do not underestimate us. Goliath can be brought down. We are proud of what we have achieved in this young democracy and we are not about to let your company come in and destroy it. So let this be a Call to Arms to everyone across South Africa, who is sitting in the shadow of Goliath: Stand up and demand these fundamental human rights promised to you by our Constitution. Use your voices – tweet, blog, petition, rally the weight of your neighbours and of people in power. Let us speak out from every hilltop. Let us not go quietly into this bleak future. Let me end off by saying this – You have lit a fire in our bellies, which no man or woman can extinguish. And if we need to, we will take this fight all the way from your petrol pumps to the very highest Court in this land. We will take this fight from the farms and towns of the Karoo to the streets of London and Amsterdam. And we will take this fight to every one of your shareholders. And I have no doubt, that in the end, good will triumph over evil.

Agape Family Center

Recently we had the funeral of our beloved Annabell. She went to heaven on the 17th of June – on my birthday. For two years and two months Father God has allowed us to be part of her life. Our miracle child! When the social worker of one of the hospitals phones me about this child I immediately wanted to say NO – NEVER. This will cause us a lot of heartache again. They were very honest and told us that this baby was born without a brain, just a brainstem. She cannot live longer than a few days, maybe a few weeks, but they needed the bed and cannot keep her in hospital – will we take her and just give TLC (Tender Loving Care). There was no follow up appointments or anything – they were so sure she will die

AnnaBelle is loved is treated with love at Agape

We said yes and from the first moment we set eyes on her she was so beautiful and took her place in our hearts – everyone just loved her. She was three days old and did not have a name. We named her Annabell. The mother left her in hospital. People’s first reaction when they hear this is shock – how can a mother do such a thing. Here at Agape we have learned not to judge – we leave that with pleasure to our Heavenly Father. He knows every person and every circumstance – there for He is the only righteous judge. A few weeks after she came to us the family phoned and ask about her and then we met them. Beautiful people. The mother was only 17 years old – still a child herself. They become close friends and visited Annabell often – even take her home for a day or two. When she was two months old we decide that she deserves a follow up visit at the hospital so that they can look at her head that is growing too fast from the water accumulating in the head. When we phoned they did not want to give us an appointment and reassure us that she will die soon. Then one of our local doctors came to visit and phone the hospital. I can still hear her telling the doctor on the other side: “I hear what you say, but I am standing in a place where many miracles took place – we want an appointment.” Some of the doctors were very sympathetic; others just believe what they medically know and did not want to put in a shunt to drain the water. After much pleading they did put in a shunt, but when it got blocked up – they refused to do anything more. Then we just kept her and trust God to help us to do our best for Annabell. Here I want to applaud our housemothers in Asiphe Home for our disabled children. They are the best – because of their love and dedication to the children. To handle a child like Annabell where the head is almost as big as her body, is very difficult – almost impossible. With all the love and care they lifted Annabell on their lap and feed her as a normal baby. She drank out of a bottle and ate her food by mouth with a spoon. It was touching to see this. Her head was so heavy in the end that it was hard to pick her up and hold her – but nothing was too much for the housemothers. Our son, Gideon (who is a nurse), said that it is a plus point for the housemothers that Annabell died without any bedsores on her head. She had a special mattress, but still it was because of the care of the housemothers that she looked so beautiful when she died. The water became too much and shuts of her breathing. She was two years old on the 6th of April 2010. There was a huge party to celebrate this event. Her biological family and her family here at Agape were part of these celebrations. She looked so beautiful.

From the start I pray for her mother – as I do with all the children that come to us. I’ve prayed that she will come to know Jesus in a special way and receive His forgiveness that will give her peace. When I met the mother I told her that this is my prayer and she must let me know when it happens. A week before Annabell died she had a dream (vision) that if she accepted Jesus as her Saviour, He will heal Annabell. She accepted Him as her Saviour and at the funeral was strong enough to thank all the people who loved Annabell. Then she said something so beautiful – “Annabell taught me so much and because of her I am a child of God now and I want to urge everyone here to make right with God and become His child. Annabell was not healed here on earth, but is perfectly healed now in Heaven.” As Gerrit said in the service: Annabell did not need this earth, she was in Heaven all the time – but we as people on this earth needed Annaobell. She touched so many lives from all over the world. So many people came to know the miracle power of our God when they saw Annabell. She could not speak – but her life was her witness of a loving Heavenly Father that holds her life in His hands – no matter what anybody else said. She was always just content with her life. She did not raise her voice to get anything – she just gave love abundantly. We moan about little things – Annabell never complained about anything. She was an example to all of us. We want to thank everyone who prayed for Annabell and always asked how she was doing – you were part of her life.

 Now we want to introduce you to our new little one in Asiphe. Her name is Faith and she is one year old. She is so beautiful and crept into our hearts the very first day she arrived. She was in a baby shelter before and the people there just loved her and phone still often to hear how Faith is doing. So wonderful that she knows that she is loved. Father God did it again – He puts her into a family and we will love her that way. “A Father to the fatherless is God in His habitation, He sets the lonely into families (Psalm 68:5 + 6)