Your friendly neighbourhood elephants welcome you
For 14 years, the animal shelter, Elephant Whispers, has played a big part in the tourism industry for Hazyview.
Elephant Whispers has been an animal shelter and haven for elephants for 14 strong years and plays a big role in the area’s tourism industry.
The shelter made a lifelong commitment to care for the five African elephants and uses them to demonstrate to visitors from all over how truly beautiful and intelligent these giants are.
Elephant Whispers offers educational encounters with the elephants. Visitors may interact with the three bulls, Tembo, Shamwari and Ziziphus, and two cows, Lindiwe and Andile. Their relationships with the sanctuary’s working team can only be witnessed as an unbreakable bond between man and animal.
You can experience how only verbal action is used to build a relationship with these animals. Like the average person teaches its dog a new trick with snacks as a reward, the elephants are taught skills and tricks through verbal communication. “Positive reinforcements with our voices are the only way we communicate with our elephants, and in reward, they receive the tastiest pellets for their hard work,” said André Kotze, the on-site manager and one of the three owners of Elephant Whispers.
The elephants need to consume food equivalent to 5% of their body weight, and between 250 to 300 litres of water per day each.
Elephant Whispers consists of two areas: the 50-hectare shelter where the animals sleep and spend their day with visitors, and when they need a break, they enjoy 4 200 hectares of open land to roam freely.
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The shelter has faced many challenges since 2020 as the implemented Covid regulations in the country were the downfall of many self-sufficient tourism businesses. “We appreciate the generous farmers who donate food, the youngsters in the area who grow vegetables and proudly deliver their produce to feed the elephants, the local medical services and people who care for our team, and the many accommodation venues, restaurants and information offices that recommend our activities,” said Kotze.
He said the goal of the facility is to get as many people as possible, especially children, involved with these animals. Elephant Whispers aims to provide the opportunity for visitors to experience the giants up close and to learn their way of living with man.
“You can go to the Kruger National Park and hopefully see an elephant around every corner, but standing in front of the big creature, touching it and speaking to it, will be far more educative and memorable for you,” said Kotze.
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