Meet the "Cheese" Family

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.

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.

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.

Brie as a young bull -- notice the top of his left ear

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.

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.