Lawrence Anthony was an acclaimed
conservationist, best-selling author and environmentalist. He was the founder
and owned and ran the Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve in Zululand,
Kwazulu Natal.
In 1999, he was asked to accept a
herd of wild elephants and he did. The herd elephants would have been killed if
he didn’t accept them because they were difficult and had escaped from other enclosures
“leaving a trail of havoc across KwaZulu Natal. “
Anthony said that “by treating
the elephants like children, trying to persuade them with words and gestures,
showing them that they shouldn’t misbehave and that they could trust me.”
He focused his attention on the
leader of the herd, Nana. “I’d go down to the fence and I’d plead with Nana not
to break it down,’ he said. ‘I knew she didn’t understand English, but I hoped
she’d understand by the tone of my voice and my body language what I was
saying. And one morning, instead of trying to break the fence down, she just
stood there. Then she put her trunk through the fence towards me. I knew she
wanted to touch me. That was a turning point.”
There are two elephant herds at
Thula Thula Game Reserve and according to Anthony’s son Dylan, both herds
arrived at the house after Anthony’s death. ‘They had not visited the house for
a year-and-a-half. It had taken them about 12 hours to make the journey. “They
all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush”
said Dylan.
In their mourning, the elephants
remained outside Anthony's home for two days and two nights without any food. The
next morning, they left as mysteriously as they came and began their journey
back home. According to his wife, Françoise Malby-Anthony and several
journalists. the elephants, his devoted friends, have since returned every year
since his death. On the same day, March 7.