Once abundant in the area, the last Knysna elephants found refuge in the forests. Hidden in the trees they lived a life out of the public eye, away from human settlements and farmland. Gradually their numbers dwindled. Eleven, six, a handful. Today, just one lone elephant remains, an elusive ghost in the trees.
I wondered about these elephants that left such a strong presence in the Outeniqua and Diepwalle forests and the fringing fynbos vegetation, where elephant signage still marks the various walking paths. The quaint Forest Legends Museum holds their story recorded on its walls, along with the history and black-and-white photos of the old woodcutters. It was a good place to find out more. An ‘Old Suzie’ steam boiler stood outside. Rain sodden trees dripped and puddles formed between the leaves, where the forest continues to survive in pockets of verdant green, remnants of the great indigenous forests that once carpeted the hills and coastline.
The San painted these elephants on rock walls hundreds of years ago. It is estimated that about 3000 elephants had resided in the Cape Floristic Region, 1000 of which lived in the Outeniqua-Tsitsikamma area. It seemed fitting that the bleached bones of an elephant filled most of one room of the museum.
The fate of the elephants was evident already in the 1700s. In Gareth Patterson’s book ‘The Secret Elephants’ is a 1775 report by Swedish physician and naturalist, Professor Andreas Sparrman. Sparrman had sailed around the world with Captain Cook and explored the southern Cape. He wrote: ‘The elephants are now, by being shot at continually, in a great measure expelled from the Houtniquas [Outeniqua mountain range] and have taken refuge on the other side of the Keureboomsrivier in the woody and almost entirely unexplored country of Sitsikamma.’
In the 1800s, elephant numbers continued to plummet as they came into the paths of farmers, hunters, woodcutters, gold prospectors and timber merchants. Elephant hunting was regarded as ‘a rather good sport’. Although in 1886 permission by the governor was needed to kill an elephant in an attempt by authorities to preserve the wildlife in the region, farmers were still allowed to shoot elephants on their land.
By 1876, the Conservator of Forests, Captain Harison estimated that only 400 to 500 elephants remained in the area and, concerned at the rate they were being hunted, appealed to the Cape government for further legislation to protect the Knysna elephants. It was denied as ‘hardly worthwhile to legislate . . . ‘
By 1908, however, the Cape government realised the elephants’ impending extinction and declared them Royal Game, to be hunted only with a ‘royal game licence’ that cost £3 for residents and £25 for non-resident hunters. There were fines implemented for illegal hunting, and for hunting elephants with tusks weighing less than eleven pounds each. (Chris Roche, ‘The Elephants at Knysna’)
Despite the growth of a more conservation-conscious ethos, notorious hunter Major Pretorius received permission in 1920 to hunt an elephant for scientific research and for a collection for the Cape Museum. He killed five Knysna elephants, leaving only seven to twelve. This was after a hunting spree in Addo where he killed 120 elephants. He is said to have killed 557 African elephants in his lifetime.
Surveys over the next forty years were undertaken to determine how many Knysna elephants actually remained. In 1968 the Wildlife Society of South Africa found only seven elephants. One was a cow that chased the group up a tree. In 1969 game warden Nick Carter identified ten elephants. In 1971 the Department of Forestry killed an old elephant bull by the name of Aftand or Adam because of conflict with farmers. This caused outrage. When the carcass was found, an official investigation took place which led to the buried tusks. A court case followed, but after a nine-day trial the accused members were acquitted.
In 1994 three young elephant cows from the Kruger National Park were moved to the Knysna forest. At the time it was thought that only one bull remained in the forest. One of the cows died of pneumonia early on and the other two wandered onto private farms clashing with the farmers. They were eventually relocated in 1999 to the Shamwari private game reserve.
From 1980, DNA studies, photographic records, sightings and tracking results revealed that only a handful of Knysna elephants remained.
Today, only a single elephant is said to live in the forest in the company of the ghosts that once roamed through the southern Cape hills, a last flame that reminds us of the heavy footprint humans have stamped into the earth in the name of development, civilisation and sport.
Soon, all that will remain are rock paintings and stories of the forest giants that once graced the area.
(Source: Forest Legends Museum, Diepwalle Forest Station)