How Elephants Finally Became My Friends

Norma-Jean Naude, manager of Garonga`s MCH Private Tented Camp. Explains how she learned to understand and embrace the majesty of the largest animal in the South African bush.

Growing up on a farm in South Africa, she only truly felt at home when she was in the bush. From sliding in the mud on your belly after heavy rains and swimming in reservoirs or water troughs filled with all sorts of living organisms, she knew this was the life she wanted to continue to live.

Yet she was never comfortable around elephants. Before coming to Garonga five years ago, she had a terrible fear of the gentle giants of the African bush.

“Luckily for me,” she writes, “I got the opportunity to head out on a drive with Sophie, one of the guides at Garonga, in search of a herd of elephants. Filled with excitement to try to push my boundaries and see what exciting experience lay on the road ahead, we headed off!

Read on to discover what helped Norma-Jean overcome her fears: