While
Indian elephants have long been used to carry people on
their backs, riding their much larger and wilder African
cousins has always been seen as too dangerous. But with
tame animals raised by humans, elephant-back safaris are
quite safe, and the perfect way to move silently through
the bush viewing game.
Camp Jabulani, in the Limpopo province of South Africa
offers an exciting and special experience in
elephant-back safaris.
JABULANI
In 1997 a three-month-old elephant bull was found stuck
in a silt dam near Hoedspruit in Limpopo. Discovered by
Lente Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Endangered
Species Centre and now owner of Camp Jabulani, the
exhausted and malnourished elephant calf was immediately
taken to the centre.
Roode named the calf Jabulani, meaning "happiness" or
"rejoice", but experts had little hope for his survival
without his mother's milk. But a formula was developed
and Jabulani pulled through. Raised in captivity, a
attempted reintroduction into the wild herd of elephants
on Kapama Game Reserve when he was two years old failed.
At five years old the young bull really needed an
elephant family when the perfect opportunity presented
itself.
In 2002, Roode learned of a herd of 12 trained elephants
in Zimbabwe whose lives were in jeopardy after the game
farm where they lived was invaded by war veterans. Roode
bought the elephants, which were moved to the Kapama
Private Game Reserve in South Africa. When Jabulani was
introduced to the herd, the matriarch Tokwe immediately
adopted him as her own.
GAME
VIEWING FROM ELEPHANT BACK
This was to be the start of elephant-back safaris in
South Africa, and the luxury six-suite tented camp Camp
Jabulani, named after the feisty little bull. The 13
adult elephants - Sebekwe, Mnuyati, Nfuli, Joe, Jim,
Setombe, Semopane, Tokwe, Lundi, Fishan, Bubu, Dande and
Jabulani - take guests out on daily excursions to the
bush. The elephants sleep in stables at night.
Guests
are seated on a comfortable canvas-covered saddle
mounted behind an experienced elephant handler. From
this vantage point they are able to view game -
antelope, giraffe and zebra - up close as the elephants
move silently in single file through the bush. It is
also possible to see the Big Five as the reserve
contains lions, wild elephant, leopard, rhino and
buffalo.
Each safari lasts for about an hour and 20 minutes and
includes a talk by the elephant master on elephant
behaviour before the ride, and refreshments afterwards.
Guests mount and dismount from a specially built
platform level with the elephant's back.
Camp Jabulani guests may have as many rides as they
want, but the activity is not available to children
younger than 12 years. The 13 elephants can carry a
maximum of 18 passengers between them at any one time. |
