Skip to main content

Ellie Love

 

This photo is Africa! A breeding herd of female Elephants hanging around a river, bathing, frolicking, and relaxing, is an iconic scene that I could watch for hours. Never an animal to linger anywhere for too long, Ndlovus (Zulu) stealthily roam the veld, eating hundreds of pounds of food a day. Always on the move, an elephant can travel up to fifty miles a day, occasionally stopping by water to drink and cool themselves or perhaps to wait until a female gives birth. Sometimes the entire family unit circles around a female delivering a new calf to the herd, protecting her from all sides. 


The matriarch, sometimes the oldest female, rules in an elephant community. She must have wisdom, have a proven record of leadership, protect her herd from all dangers, teach the young about proper elephant behavior, and have the experience and confidence to guide her herd through the dangerous life in the bush. 


These powerful descendants of the wooly mammoth are also quite dangerous. I can’t tell you how many times I have rounded a corner and come face to face with one lone Elephant or a herd crossing the road. I have learned how to drive in reverse as easily as going forward. Don’t mess with Ellies. They’ll flip a car with their powerful bodies as easily as a human turns over a stone. 


Elephants with a memory of humans hurting or killing someone in their family are particularly dangerous. It’s true; they do not forget the tragedies caused by human interference, human greed, and human’s disregard for an Elephant’s life. Humans = danger! Humans = the greatest threat to elephants!


Aside from dealing with homo sapiens, the great destroyer of all things beautiful, Elephants are intelligent, compassionate, generous, social, and magnificent examples of how to care for each other.


There’s so much more to go on about when it comes to ellies. But for now, I don’t know about you, but I want to be more like an Elephant. 


#elephantlove #elliesinthebush #writing #lastmonthsinsouthafrica #beanelephant #elephants

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Esther Mahlangu - Ndebele Artist

  This beautiful woman is 92-years-old and lives in a small Ndebele village in Mpumalanga. Esther Mahlangu is an Outsider Artist, self-taught from the age of nine, who has achieved great success with her bold, colorful art reflecting traditional Ndebele culture. It’s not clear, but it seems she never went to school and can only write her name on her artwork. However, she has two honorary doctorates for her contributions to the art world. Her success was serendipitous. In 1986, researchers from France were roaming around looking for traditional art forms. One road led them to the artist’s village, where they became enthralled by Mahlangu’s uniquely painted houses. Right time, right road!  They invited her to create murals for an international contemporary art exhibition at the Magiciens de la Terre in France. Her obscurity was soon over and she quickly became a phenomenon in the Pan-African art world. Her resume is awe-inspiring. Look her up, here’s one link - https://www.sahi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leopard in a Tree

  I broke a rule in The Kruger to get a shot of this leopard resting in the middle of a tree fully populated with leaves. And, I kind of didn’t care because, well, it was a leopard, one of the most elusive, stealth, and stunning animals I have been lucky enough to see only a few times during my seven years of trolling around southern Africa. Many cars were parked at the site, inhabitants gawking upwards directly outside the Lower Sabie entrance, so I knew something special was in the tree. Except, I couldn’t see it, and I wanted to it, so I stared and scanned in between the leaves and the branches until I recognized the spotted tail hanging to one side. Gold! One problem! Many roads in The Kruger are no-trespass roads - poacher patrol roads, ranger roads, admin roads, washed-out roads, all roads where civilian vehicles are not welcome. The best angle for the photo was down one of those roads so, I lost control of my manners, calculated where and how I needed to get there, and drove...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jacaranda

  View the beauty of this glorious jacaranda mimosifolia tree in full bloom.  They are everywhere in Johannesburg and Pretoria in spring.  South Africans look forward to the explosion of soft violet leaves every October, signaling the end of chilly winters and the rebirth that comes with spring. Traveling down an avenue canopied with these trees makes me feel like I’m in a fantasy novel, so enchanted by their majesty and color that I have pulled over more than once to snap photos. Local lore says that a person will have good luck if a jacaranda bloom falls on their head.  Originating in South America, the jacaranda was brought to South Africa somewhere between 1830 and the 1880s, at the height of the gold rush.  Planted along many of the streets of Johannesburg and Pretoria, the trees were charged with making the dusty landscape of the booming cities lovely and livable. They look like their entire existence to bring pleasure, kind of like the mockingbird. But, t...
Post a Comment
Read more