Why elephants?

It’s something that I’ve been asked so many times that I’ve lost count, and it’s not an odd question.

Why elephants?

Why do you like elephants so much?

I actually never really know how to respond. In fact, I got asked just yesterday by a fellow PhD student and all I could do was shrug. It’s easy to say that once you’ve seen and been immersed in elephant life in Africa that there’s no turning back. Elephants have a way of softening the hardest of hearts and their notoriety as a charismatic species has evidence abounds. But, before that? I don’t know.

I’ve been a wildlife kid my entire life. Mum had to read animal reference books to me instead of fairy tales and I’ve known every word in the Lion King since I could talk. As proof, here’s a photo of me in 1999 (aged 5):

From here, I guess it was all down hill. I’ve always loved animals – a gift I think I inherited from both my parents. I’ve always been willing to make sacrifices for them, and I’ve always been emotionally invested in them. And, I always dreamed of Africa. I dreamed of the big leagues – elephants, lions, rhinos, buffalo. I saved up to go in my gap year but never managed. When I realised that I wanted to make a life out of it, I actually resigned myself to the fact that I would end up working in Australia on small species, but it was never where my heart would lie.

To quote my idol, Jane Goodall, “I was typically a man, I went on adventures.
Probably because at the time I wanted to do things which men did and women didn’t.
You know going to Africa, living with animals, that’s all I ever thought about.
I wanted to come as close to talking to animals as I could, to be like Doctor Doolittle.
I wanted to move among them without fear, like Tarzan. The huge, gnarled, and ancient trees, the little streams chuckling their way through rocky pathways to the lake. The birds. The insects. Since I was eight or nine years old, I had dreamed of being in Africa, of living in the bush among wild animals”

I’ve always loved big animals, the bigger the better. Bears, elk, wolves, elephants, hippos – you name it. I genuinely don’t know why, maybe I can anthropomorphise them better. This has never come at the expense of my adoration of other species (seriously – ask me about spiders sometime). I was so excited for the opportunity to go to Africa, and I think I loved my time so much because it was everything I was expecting and more, it far exceeded my expectations. I think the reason that I now love elephants so much is that when I was with them – I was by far my favourite version of myself. I developed a healthy respect for my ability, my passion and my drive. I was respected by the people around me it was truly my happy place. Each day I got to wake up, talk to like-minded people, absorb so much information of interest, drive around to find elephants and be with them while they went about their daily life. I stand by the fact that there is no higher privilege than being among elephants in their natural environment.

For the months, and now years to follow, I always looked back on that time with the elephants so fondly and such adoration that I think my experience and my love merged to form this borderline obsession with elephants. Elephants are tactile, intelligent, loving creatures who command a deep respect and sense of awe. I got to the point where I’ve never had any other great loves in my life – no human partners, no pets, no children so I have had this unique and priceless opportunity to pour it into my passion for elephants and conservation which is why I am like this. Now it’s an going joke that I talk about them too much, I always have one on me (besides the tattoo) and I think people respect it because it is certainly something I pride myself on.

I am so lucky to have idols like Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson, Dianne Fossey, David Attenborough who have shown that dedicating your life to wildlife and conservation, it’s of merit. I honestly don’t know what I would be doing if I was studying doing my PhD, or if I hadn’t done honours or if I hadn’t been with the elephants. Having those cherished memories has got me through an unbelievable amount of bad times and holding them close to me means that I can get through just about anything. I am one of the luckiest people to have known their whole life what they’ve wanted to do, and even more so that through hard work and perseverance was able to succeed in starting that journey and above all less, I am so lucky to share it with elephants.

So – why do I love elephants? Because I don’t know what I would do or who I would be without them. In the wise words of Steve Boyes, “standing in front of an elephant, far away from anywhere is the closest I will ever get to god.”