Thanks to a professional team, a year of preparation, international funding and four weeks of intensive back-breaking journeys, the 26 elephants from Mount Etjo Safari Lodge have found themselves in the lush Cuatir Nature Reserve in south-eastern Angola, the area hadn’t seen elephants for 50 years due to the ravages of the civil war and indiscriminate poaching. The happy ending had its beginnings many years ago when 10 orphaned calves from the Olifantsrus cull in Etosha National Park found a home at the lodge at the request of Jan and Annette Oelofse. It was 1985, the year their son Alex was born, and the youngsters – ranging in age from there and a half to eight years – grew up alongside him.
Without leadership they had some adventures and growing pains, until, with the addition of a few elephants from other areas, they left their naughty years behind them, found their feet and a safe home, and formed a well-balanced herd. Nearly 40 years – and a seven-year drought – later, the elephant population exceeded the carrying capacity of the 3 600 km2, and a new home was sought for half the herd. Some of Mount Etjo’s giraffes and kudus had previously been relocated to Cuatir Nature Reserve in Angola, a haven of mopane forest and floodplains, and they asked owner Stephan van Wyk if he was interested in offering a home to the small family group of elephants.
And so began a detailed operation last month that included a team of two veterinarians (Drs HO Reuter and Ulf Tubbe.