National Geographic has released its latest doccie series Secrets of the Elephants, and KAREN RUTTER is blown away by the production.
The game vehicle rounds a corner, and there they are. A herd of elephants, peacefully snacking on the thick shrubbery that surrounds us. When the engine is switched off, you can hear the snapping of branches and the crunch of leaves as foliage is moved from trunk to mouth. It’s early morning in the Pilanesberg National Park, and breakfast is served.
For the matriarch of the family, there’s a majestic grace to her slow, deliberate path through the bush. For some of the younger elephants, however, it’s all about having fun. A baby boy decides to reverse onto the road in front of us, mischievously glancing at our truck, and then swings around in a mock charge before scampering away to join the adults. As the herd slowly sways away, you can hear the odd low rumble pass between family members. It’s a magical moment – and all the more so because the very reason we’re here is all about elephants.
National Geographic have just released a magnificent four-part series called Secrets of the Elephants, and we are in the Pilanesberg to learn more about the documentary, and the people behind it. And to hopefully see some of the stars of the show, of course …
Produced by James Cameron, narrated by Natalie Portman and featuring renowned elephant researcher Dr. Paula Kahumba, who is also CEO of the Kenyan conservation organisation Wildlife Direct and a National Geographic explorer, the series examines elephants in four different environments – desert, savanna, rainforest and amongst humans – in African and Asia. While it shows the incredible ways elephants have adapted to different geographical spaces, it also tracks the challenges that face both elephants and humans as more and more natural space makes way for agriculture and built environments.
Elephants are in trouble
Ultimately, as Dr. Kahumba says, elephants are in trouble, and it is largely because of the expansion of humans into elephant territory, and also our desire for ivory from elephant tusks. It’s estimated that around 26 million elephants lived on the African continent at the beginning of the 19th century. Now there are only about 45 000 elephants left. In Asia, numbers are at 50 000 in the wild.
As more research is done on elephants, more effective ways of protecting them are developed. An important part of this is raising consciousness about elephants – the unique way they communicate, their family structures, their rituals around birth and death, their complex emotions and their deep, shared knowledge of survival, passed down through generations. Which is why a documentary series like Secrets of the Elephants is so important.
Through skilful storytelling and incredible footage, some of which has never been seen before (such as a Namib desert elephant giving birth to a calf), we are taken into the intimate lives of these huge, awe-inspiring creatures. We are drawn into the drama of a herd having to climb down a mountain to reach water; the infectious joy of a young elephant playing in a river; the communal respect paid to a fallen hero.
The complexity of elephants
And we learn just how complex elephants are. Ethologist Joyce Poole has been collecting video and audio recordings of for five decades, and has identified a language of rumblings, growls and calls that can carry for over two kilometres and is clearly a common means of communicating. “There are around 30 ‘words’ or ‘calls’ that are recognisable, some of which mark events such as the birth of a baby. And some of which we cannot even hear, they are so low-pitched,” says Dr. Poole. Her enthusiasm is infectious, as is the passion of Dr. Kahumba, and indeed all the experts and researchers involved in the docu-series, helping us to understand elephants better. Elephants are relationship orientated – they have friendships, they have supportive family units, they look out for each other and they like to hang out. They’re emotional – they experience deep sadness when one of the family dies. They have a sense of humour – especially when they’re young.
And once one starts to realise all of this, it becomes very hard to contemplate the killing of elephants for their ivory, and the destruction of herds to make way for human habitation. Such is the power of Secrets of the Elephants – to raise global awareness of a spectacular species, before it’s too late.
So that others may also, in the future, watch a herd of elephants slowly eat breakfast as the sun rises across the savanna…
What: Secrets of the Elephants
Where: Disney+ as well as across Africa on National Geographic Wild (DStv 182, StarSat 221)
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