Allow me to introduce my elephant
friends – the Cheese family. This is the
one family that I would venture to say “knows” me.” There is no scientific evidence to prove this
statement; it is just a feeling that I have, a sense when I am around them that
they recognize the sound of my car and the sound of my voice – yes, I talk to
them whenever possible.
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| The Cheese family at the salt lick in my back yard |
The Cheese family is one
Lewa’s “resident” families which means that they spend the majority of their
time within the conservancy’s boundaries.
They do venture up into the Ngare Ndare forest – particularly during
times of drought – but most of their days are spent here on Lewa. Despite this fact, the Cheeses are not often
seen by tourists because the family is rarely found in the areas frequented by
tourist vehicles. Instead, they tend to
“hang out” on the southwestern side of Lewa which, coincidentally, is where my
house is located. Rarely do I leave home
without running into the Cheeses; they are also frequent visitors to the salt
lick in my back yard.
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| Camembert and her calf, Havarti |
The Cheeses are a small
family unit headed by matriarch, Camembert.
When I first met her, Camembert had a young male calf that we named Brie
– seemed like the obvious choice. He is
now a handsome young bull that has been pushed out on his own, although he
still visits the family from time to time.
He is very easily identified because the top of his left ear is
broken. Camembert has since had two more
calves – Mozzarella, a female born in 2005, and another young female named
Havarti, born in March of 2009.
The other big female in the
family is Jarlsberg. She, too, has had
calves in 2005 and 2009 – a young male named Feta and another male called
Parmesan.
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| Brie as a young bull -- notice the top of his left ear |
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| Brie, when we first met him in 2004 |
Because the Cheeses stay
primarily on Lewa, they are a very calm and contented family. They know that they need not fear cars or the
sound of human voices. Many of the
elephant that arrive from outside Lewa have endured human/elephant conflicts,
at best, or, at worst, have experienced the horror of being shot at by
poachers. Thus, they are very skittish at first, and it takes some time before
they are able to relax in the secure envoironment that Lewa provides.
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| Madagascar from the Island family |
We had an amazing sighting of
just such a family on Tuesday. Known as the Islands, this family has only been
seen on one other occasion back in 2009!
I found it hard to believe that it could really be them, but photos
confirmed our sighting. They were,
indeed, very nervous and ran at the sound of the vehicle. This is an unusual family in that two of the
females have enormous, straight tusks and two females are tuskless. With such
big ivory, these two females are in great danger of being poached, and I have
to wonder if they have come back to Lewa to seek a safe haven.
