Jabulani's Story

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The tale of Baby Elephant Jabulani...

Just 4 months old, injured, severely dehydrated - practically dead. This is Lente Roode’s first memory of Jabulani in June 1997. He had been found firmly stuck in the mud of a silt dam. After attempts to rescue him failed, his mother, with the rest of the herd, abandoned him. He was left to the elements.

It took a full year to nurse the tiny elephant back to health. He truly beat the odds amongst much medical scepticism as to whether he could survive. He was monitored around the clock, cocooned in the love and affection of a dedicated team (including a hand-reared sheep called Skaap who acted as a surrogate mother) and slowly brought back to a state of vitality.

Despite numerous painstaking attempts to re-introduce him into the bush, Jabulani would have none of it! These two-legged creatures were his family and he had no intention of parting ways. Lente now faced the dilemma of what she would do with a rapidly growing elephant…

Enter the hand of Fate once again...

In March 2002 word reached Lente of 12 Zimbabwean elephants who faced a grisly and untimely end. Their owner’s farm was in the process of being ex-propriated by war veterans and the elephants were tagged for their meat.

A rescue mission was put into place within a matter of weeks. A massive truck left Johannesburg for Zimbabwe empty – and returned with a dozen pachyderms. To safety.

It was with amazement that Lente stood back and witnessed the near-miraculous meeting of Jabulani with the herd – he was almost immediately adopted by Tokwe (the matriarch) and had finally found his kin.

Jabulani, Tokwe and the other ten elephants in the herd now live at Camp Jabulani in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

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» Pictures and Text from Camp Jabulani website