{"id":10867,"date":"2026-09-26T11:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T09:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bteh.org\/nl\/africa\/back-into-the-euphorbia-a-blog-by-lesli-woodruff\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T11:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T09:47:39","slug":"back-into-the-euphorbia-a-blog-by-lesli-woodruff","status":"publish","type":"africa","link":"https:\/\/bteh.org\/nl\/afrika\/back-into-the-euphorbia-a-blog-by-lesli-woodruff\/","title":{"rendered":"Terug in de Euphor(b)ia: Een blog door Lesli Woodruff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terug in de Euphor(b)ia: Een blog door Lesli Woodruff<\/h2>

Van 14 tot en met 24 september sloot Bring The Elephant Home een bijzonder waardevol hoofdstuk af met onze allerlaatste onderzoeksexpeditie voor vrijwilligers in het Kariega Game Reserve in Zuid-Afrika. Een gepassioneerd team van 10 vrijwillige onderzoeksassistenten ging samen met ons het veld in om olifantengedrag te bestuderen en methoden voor individuele identificatie te verfijnen. Om de sfeer van dit onvergetelijke avontuur vast te leggen, deelt vrijwilliger Lesli Woodruff haar persoonlijke ervaringen in het onderstaande blogbericht (in het Engels).<\/p>

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Foto gemaakt door Lesli Woodruff<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Back into the euphor(b)ia<\/h4>

The African milk tree stands as a tall reminder that I\u2019m not in Kansas anymore. I mean, I\u2019m not in Kansas at all. I\u2019m back in South Africa, looking for elephants. There\u2019s a moment that feels almost electric; a euphorbia tree comes into view and something inside me shifts: a rush of a sense of belonging; an earthy sweetness in the air that smells of dust and possibility; a tingling anticipation of reunion with the magnificent beings we\u2019re here to observe.<\/p>

The tree is the threshold; the elephants are the reason we cross it.<\/h4>

We venture out that first afternoon to see what we bump into. Not literally, of course. We\u2019re here 5 months after collars were removed from 2 of the matriarchs, so we have to find them the old fashioned way. We\u2019re here 5 months after we field-tested the first version of an elephant ID app that has the potential to fundamentally change the way we identify individuals in the field. We\u2019re here to mesh science with wonder; to bring the future into the field; to follow their footsteps, and to observe and learn.<\/p>

So that first sighting that first day in the field, on a landscape transformed by recent rains, we spotted a matriarch and her new babies and grand-babies wallowing in the mud. We sat with them as they played and bathed and rumbled the way elephants do. I felt that rumble permeate into my bones as some of the heaviness of the world I left behind lifted.<\/p>

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Foto gemaakt door Lesli Woodruff<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

These animals will never cease to leave me in awe of the natural world.<\/h4>

This is the 4th time I\u2019ve been at Kariega since the spring of 2024, and to be honest, I\u2019m not in love with South Africa as a destination. To me, it feels closed and apportioned and entitled, and I always leave with the feeling that they\u2019ve commoditized the wilderness here.<\/p>

That said, Kariega feels like an oasis of potential. The reserve is trying to collaborate with its neighbours to connect private reserves into the Bushman\u2019s River Biodiversity Corridor and eventually up to Addo Elephant National Park. But that kind of cooperation requires trust and wildlife management and a look at the problem from the animals\u2019 perspective rather than a consumptive end goal. The result, if it works, is a natural corridor for elephants and other endemic species to roam and thrive and, ultimately, survive.<\/p>

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Foto’s gemaakt door Lesli Woodruff<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Fence removal works. Dr. Brooke Friswold, Africa Manager for Bring The Elephant Home, recently published a paper after researching the results of fence removal at Kariega. Results confirmed what she suspected all along: Removing fences helps elephants and ecosystems thrive:<\/p>