An Age-Old Concept, A Brand New Adventure
An
African Elephant History…
Elephant Back Safaris and
Elephant Interactions
The African Elephant and their plight across the African continent remains
one of the greatest
and most controversial issues for modern day conservationists. With
wild habitats for elephant populations shrinking the total amount of
land for these herds are being reduced at an alarming rate!
Man’s relationship with elephants in Africa is a colorful and
fascinating story, dating back as far as 218BC where elephants were
captured and trained by the Carthaginians and used as vehicles of war…
With their defeat the tradition of working elephants all but died out
until the early 20th Century
when King Leopold of the Belgian Congo set out to realize his dream
of training the African Elephant.
An elephant training school was set up in Garamba, in the heart of the
Congo and for a while thrived.
Today the camp still exists but the ravages of war and unrest leaves
only 4 elephants as a
legacy to this ancient tradition of the past.
A
brand new adventure emerges…..
More recently this relationship has emerged in Southern Africa in the
form of Elephant-Back Safaris,
a novel and popular tourist initiative. Culling operations in Zimbabwe
in the 70’s and 80’s produced a number of young elephants
being held back from the culls with the aim of selling them to zoos and
safari parks overseas in an attempt to raise much needed funds for National
Parks. In an effort to
save these youngsters from their destined lives overseas a handful of
Private farmers in the area bought the elephants giving them homes on
their land. The elephants were soon to outgrow their habitats on smaller
farms and Wild Horizons was approached to take care of them.
It
was through these culls that the Zimbabwean model for domesticated elephants
was born,
based on the overall vision that allows for domesticated elephants to
pursue a lifestyle which is
similar to wild elephants, and at the same time, through tourism play
a vital role in conservation through education. This unique relationship
between man and elephant is based on the utilization
of positive reinforcement and founded on trust and mutual respect between
man and animal.
‘Elephant Camp’ outside Victoria Falls has been successfully
running elephant-back safaris for 17 years, bringing untold joy to many
tourists and offering these elephants a secure home and future.
Pilanesberg Elephant-Back Safaris
In 2002 Pilanesberg Elephant-Back Safari opened in South Africa bringing
with them 5 special elephants: Chikwenya, Sapi, Michael, Mana and Sharu
and their handlers. The translocation operation was ‘mammoth’
and whilst traumatic at the time, has been a great success. The elephants
have settled well into their new home on South African soil and visitors
to the Pilanesberg/Sun City area
are now able to witness this wonderful concept.
Wild Horizons has over the years accumulated a great deal of experience and skill with this concept and have a well earned reputation as leaders within the Elephant-Back Safari industry – The vested time and dedication from all concerned has certainly paid off – the success of their operations being testimony to the product’s worth. To date the company has fostered and homed 22 elephants and operates to a strict code of conduct driven by the fact that they have a life-long
responsibility to these gentle giants….
Though
small in the big picture, this age-old concept looks set to contribute
to the
‘elephant dilemma’, by way of helping to bridge the gap
between man and these magnificent
Gentle Giants of our continent.
“The
spirit of these Great Creatures will Never leave you…..”
