Notes from the Wild: A Blog By Donna Long
After 10 days at the Kariega Game Reserve in South-Africa, volunteer Donna Long shares her experiences in a written blog. In collaboration with the Kariega Foundation and Bring The Elephant Home (BTEH), the volunteers helped as research-assistents to observe wild African elephants. They directly contributed to nature conservation while being able to experience these impressive animals up close. Her story can be read below.
For the Love of Wildlife
I’ve known from a young age that I wanted to work with wildlife, especially with elephants. I grew up watching Animal Planet and Bindi the Jungle Girl, studied Jane Goodall, and decided that was it for me – and that’s all it’s ever been. So after high school, I jumped in with two feet. I left the country by myself for the first time and went to Costa Rica. Then I went on to study Conservation Biology at a 4-year university despite the dim career prospects awaiting me, and here I am, about a year and a half later, still trying to find my way into the tiny but powerful world of wildlife biologists that one day will accept me and my willpower.
The Conservation Journey
Once I graduated, I knew the first step had to be more of a leap of faith. I had to go to Africa and just hope that I’d meet the right people to help me along the path of studying elephants. I researched places I could ethically perform wildlife research, intern, or volunteer, and found Kariega Game Reserve in Eastern Cape, South Africa. I spent four weeks volunteering on the reserve – participating in game counts, game captures, observational research, and even assisting in veterinary procedures – and spent equal time meeting children in the community, volunteering in their schools, libraries, communities, and soup kitchens. The trip changed my life in all the best ways. I had confirmation that I was doing what I was meant to do, and I met all the right people through this experience, including Brooke Friswold, the Regional Director for Bring the Elephant Home.
Mentorship and New Beginnings in South Africa
Brooke and I have been meeting via Zoom and messaging for the past couple of months, and as an elephant researcher, she has really inspired me and helped me with career and school-related questions, even helping me find a graduate project and connecting me with potential advisors. When she said that Bring the Elephant Home was performing research again at Kariega, I was all in, no questions asked. Kariega had become a second home to me, and getting to zero in on elephant research was truly a dream come true.
Funding My Dream and Joining the Herd
I booked my flights and paid for the program with the money I had saved up from bartending full-time in the meantime. Then, after a long fourteen-hour flight to Cape Town and one hour to Port Elizabeth, I met up with the group of women volunteering, and was picked up by Brooke and Antoinette Van de Water, founder of BTEH, to head to Kariega Conservation Center, the volunteer accommodation. When we first arrived at the volunteer house, we were greeted at the fence by an entire herd of elephants, as if they were waiting for us to arrive and say “Welcome Home.” We stood there and watched them, covering our mouths in awe, unable to look away. What were the odds?
Little did we know that each day we encountered the elephants would only get better.
A Breath of the Bush
Driving out into the reserve is like entering a new universe. We’ve become so accustomed as humans to busy streets, cities, and ignoring wildlife, and entering the reserve is a new form of quiet that takes over your whole body. The stillness of the air, the mountains you drive through, and the smell of the bush that can only be understood by experiencing it. It’s a smell I long for. You turn the corner around KCC and overlook the entire reserve of mountains, wildlife, plains, and rivers. The sky is bluer, and the flora is greener than I’ve seen anywhere else.
Lessons from Elephant School
We had spent the previous day at “Elephant School” learning how to ID individual elephants, how to take focal observations, what each behavior is and means, and how to collect dung samples. By the time we had reached our first elephant sighting, we knew immediately it was Balu. He had wavy ears like curtains, distinct tears in his ears, and was a sub-adult bull elephant, off on his own for the first time and learning his place in their society. He might be the most beautiful elephant I’ve ever seen – even with his unmistakeable musth smell.
Secret Lives of the Herd
Everyday the elephants seemed to be less and less bothered by us watching them. They’d walk right up to our vehicle, maybe smell us, and carry on with grazing, bathing, or interacting with other elephants. It was like we became part of the herd ourselves, and we had been let in on more of their secrets the longer we watched. We observed them at the watering hole, drinking and splashing themselves, and saw the calves fall into the mud and trip over their trunks drinking, learning how to be like mom. We saw how involved the entire herd is when raising their young, nursing them, protecting them from harm, and even engaging in play.
The Megaherd Gathering
The last day proved to be the most special of them all. We had spent the morning following a herd that was in and out of the shrub, unable to get any sort of data collection. That was until we drove over the hill and witnessed a megaherd all coming together and greeting each other. There must have been about 80 elephants ranging in all ages and three different herds, even letting some of the younger bulls hang out closer than usual. It was like witnessing friends coming together after a long time apart. There was play sparring, juveniles and calves playing, grazing, cows watching their young, and sub-adult bulls coming together on the outside of the herd – and we just watched. It was incredible.
From Awe to Action: The Megaherd’s Final Performance
After over an hour of observing in awe (the theme of this trip, if you couldn’t tell), we decided to head back for dinner. But the elephants had other plans, and our day wasn’t over just yet. On our drive back, we saw a few elephants in the watering hole and decided to park and observe them. Two sub-adult bulls were play-sparring in the water, throwing their trunks over each other, jumping on top of each other, and fully submerging their giant bodies in the tiny pond. On the bank were a matriarch, some adult and young adult cows, and a calf. At first, they played in the mud for a bit, wallowing and rolling around, then decided to join in on the fun in the water. The baby came for a swim, guarded by the cows, and you could see its little trunk in and out above the water. Then more elephants joined. And just over the hill – there came more. And they just kept coming. Our megaherd had decided to take their party to the pool. Some stayed on the bank and wallowed in the mud, more joined in the sparring in the pond, little ones stayed in the shallow end, and even the matriarch decided to go for a swim. When some left the water, more got in. It was like watching humans in America on the Fourth of July. I even expected to see some cannonball jumps into the water.
Truly, I had never experienced a feeling like this in my entire life. Elephants old and new becoming the most playful species I had ever witnessed.
A Reminder to Stay Connected
I think my final takeaway, after days of thinking this trip over and over, was the reminder to stay connected to nature and that we really are just one tiny part of the grand scheme of the world. We go about our lives, working in offices, hiding behind screens, hardly ever going outside, when phenomena like this are going on at the same time and we hardly get to witness it. And I think that’s not only confirmation that I chose the right career path, but also a reminder that life is short. Experience the thing. Spend the money. And never stop caring about saving the parts of the world that allow us to experience awe. The awe that we feel is Mother Nature calling us home.
Back to Reality, Looking Forward
I can’t wait for my career researching elephants to finally start, but I have a hard time remembering to appreciate where I am. As I’ve been reminded constantly by the inspiring women I got to know on this trip, I’m young and I’ve got so much time to find my way into the world. Being in my twenties is the best time of my life to figure out where I want to go and how to get there, and this trip was so reassuring of that. So now I’m back at home in my little apartment, working at my bartending job that I don’t even like, but reminding myself that it pays for experiences like the one I just had, and gives me time to apply to Master’s programs that put me one step closer to where I want to be.
Until next time, Africa…
Thank you, Donna!
A massive thank you to Donna Long for writing and sharing her wonderful experience at the Kariega Game Reserve. Thanks to her personal report, we can get a unique insight into the collaboration between the Kariega Foundation and BTEH.
Did this blog make you want to join us in South Africa? You can find more information here on the next research expedition to Kariega Game Reserve from 14-24 of September 2026! We hope to see you then!