No matter how many times I’ve experienced it, I’m still amazed by the nimble way in which the African elephant moves through the bush.
Even when they’re mock-charging, and coming at you at speed, they make very little noise. It’s only the flapping ears and warning trumpets which alert you. If they didn’t do that, you’d only realise once it’s too late.
Years ago, Zimbabwean conservationist Viv Bristow told me about a night he spent in the Zambezi valley. He was lying in the open in his sleeping bag, marvelling at the millions of stars above him. Suddenly, everything went black and Viv had a moment of panic, until he heard the sounds of a trunk gently plucking at the leaves over his head.
The enormous elephant had walked up to him and stepped gently over and around him to get at its food. At the time, Viv was at the peak of his powers as a game scout and tracker and thought he was attuned to everything in the bush. Yet he didn’t hear anything. Just a reminder, he remarked, that we humans are mere visitors in the bush…
As I walk through the acacia woodland in the flatlands around the Zuurberg mountains in the Eastern Cape, I remember Viv’s story and stop and close my eyes momentarily to listen better to the sounds of the three elephants we have been following on foot. I cannot hear their massive feet touch the ground and the only sounds are of them stripping tree branchlets with their trunks.
When they’re not feeding and merely moving through the bush, they are truly the “grey ghosts” of the savannah.
The walk with the jumbos takes place on the Addo Elephant Back Safaris and Lodges property which is in the vicinity of the Addo Elephant National Park, although not actually adjacent to the national park.
The three animals tower over 3m high and are, like their human handlers, emigrants from Zimbabwe – the elephants were saved from a cull and the men from the endless collapse of their country’s economy.
It’s soothing – spiritually and physically – walking alone with the giant pachyderms.
There is a serenity about them, although clearly there are issues between them about who is the alpha male (they’re all over 20 years old, which makes them prime adults). Thabo is currently the dominant one, but Duma and Mukwa are up for the odd challenge.
But when you look at their eyes, fringed by large lashes, there is a calm there.
The physical respite comes because it is heavenly to walk after what can only be called an excruciating ride on their backs.
I’d heard a lot about elephant back safaris and, frankly, had my
reservations over whether it was right that these noble animals should be treated as beasts of burden for the entertainment of humans.
Those issues would come up later, but it was the ride itself which was an experience. Not a comfortable experience, but an experience nevertheless. At least I can say I have ridden on the back of an elephant. And I don’t have to do it again.
Unlike some other places which offer elephant back rides, the Addo Elephant Back Safaris operation keeps things as natural as possible (if you can call having three people on the back of an elephant natural, that is…). Hence, there are no saddles. Nothing to make the ride more comfortable.
Now to explain that ride…
Once you have read this, stand in the middle of the lounge and stretch your legs as far apart as they will go. Right to the point (and beyond) where the knees lock up. That gives you an idea of how you are spreadeagled on an elephant’s back.
Then, to experience the other part of the ride, find something like a caravan towbar – and sit on it.
An elephant which is two decades old is a large creature – with a wide back and a wide and pointed spine which sticks straight into your rear end.
For us – two couples on two elephants – it was agony. It was worst for the third person up – the driver comes first, then the second person holds on to him and the one at the back hangs on for dear life to the driver’s belt.
And I do mean dear life. Spreadeagled more than three metres off the ground, you feel vulnerable, acutely aware that if you slip and fall, you’ll be heading head first for the ground.
On our little safari, our friend Tony Da Silva lasted barely five minutes before calling a halt and asking to be let off.
His elephant got down on its knees and Tony slid in an ungainly way to the ground.
I wasn’t going to chicken out, thought I… so I stuck with it.
After 20 minutes or so, it was apparent this was one of the most uncomfortable things I had ever done and I began to count down the minutes left in the rest of our one-hour ride. Tony walked along beside us, laughing a lot…
Going downhill was particularly agonising, as the elephants lengthened their stride and the rolling motions became worse, as did the spine repeatedly ramming my coccyx.
That was one of the longest hours I’ve spent on a travel assignment, and finally we clambered off at a specially-built ramp. For hours afterwards, we staggered around like war-wounded. And we smiled knowingly at a group of foreigners who were on the way to climb on the elephants.
After the ride, the elephants are “presented” to guests and made by their handlers to kneel, or get down on all fours, so tourists can have their photos taken with them.
And that’s what upset all four of us.
My wife, Rose, loves elephants, but she wasn’t comfortable. Nor were Tony and his wife Lydia, who felt the animals were being forced into unnatural acts by their handlers, who often used metal-tipped sticks to smack them behind the ears to make them obey.
The debate that evening, as we enjoyed sundowners on the deck of Tony and Lydia’s lodge, was about whether this was right.
True, these animals might well have been culled, but isn’t saving the life of even one animal important?
It is also true we never saw any brutality or cruelty by the handlers and we believe the animals were trained in the most humane way possible. And clearly they’re not unhappy with their lot in life.
But does an elephant back safari help you understand nature, and elephants in particular, any better?
That’s the question we wrestled with. We had a once-in-a-lifetime “up close and personal” experience with them and learned a lot about their habits. But, apart from the physical discomfort, we were left with the uncomfortable sense that perhaps we were exploiting these creatures.
The debate about the elephants, though, didn’t overshadow the positive side of our visit to Addo Elephant Back Safaris and Lodges – it is a beautiful place to visit and in which to unwind.
The individual wooden and tented lodges are located along a hillside in the Zuurberg.
Our unit was deep in the heart of riverine bush and we were surrounded by wild yellowwood trees and serenading by the gurgling of a stream.
The units have their own Jacuzzis as part of the decking and we enjoyed an evening sundowner while lolling in the Jacuzzi.
Food at breakfast, lunch and dinner was good, as was the service of the staff, and the overall feeling among the four of us was: definitely worth visiting. I still am not sure whether I agree with elephant rides, though. But I’d love to hear what you think: e-mail me at [email protected]
l Addo Elephant Back Safaris and Lodges is situated in the Zuurberg mountains in the Eastern Cape, close to Addo Elephant National Park and about 90 minutes by road from Port Elizabeth.
l Accommodation (with dinner, bed and breakfast) normally runs at R2 450 per person for two nights, but there is a special R995 per person per night offer on now.
l Elephant-back safaris – riding on, walking with and feeding the elephants – last three hours and cost R895 per person.
l www.addoelephantbacksafaris.co.za.Tel: 086 123 3672
lThe Addo Elephant Back Safaris and Lodges visit was part of “The Incredible Journey” tour package, which includes two nights each at African Relish cooking school in Prince Albert; Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve outside Graaff-Reinet and Sibuya Game Reserve outside Kenton-on-Sea. Contact: The Incredible Journey; www.jennygreeffmarketing.co.za; [email protected]; phone 083 454 6565 - Saturday Star