Khanyisa meets Tokwe, the Matriarch of the Jabulani Herd

A big day for Khanyisa recently as she met Tokwe, the Matriarch of the Jabulani Herd, her daughters, Limpopo and Pisa; and her two adopted daughters, Kumbura and Timisa, both orphaned and accepted by the herd. Khanyisa also met Fishan, a respected bull of the herd.

It was a morning full of activity and fuss around Khanyisa, as she met the herd in the stables.

Tokwe was so graceful and calm and introduced herself slowly to Khanyisa, respectfully giving Lundi (her adoptive mom) a lot of space to continue with her motherly duties.

Limpopo, Tokwe’s daughter, was very curious and Khanyisa seemed to be comfortable with her once she relaxed a little.

Fishan (the bull) introduced himself briefly and continued to stay close to Lundi as he often does.

The younger elephants, namely Kumbura, Pisa and Timisa, at first did not show a lot of interest in Khanyisa but towards the end started showing some signs of jealousy, as now Khanyisa was getting all of the attention!

We kept their first introduction shorter than usual, as we do not want to overwhelm or cause too much stress to Khanyisa with so many new elephants together at once.

Much like human families, it takes a lot of adaptation to accept a new member into the family.

It was great to see Khanyisa surrounded by the entire herd, but we know that the best way forward is to take our time and continue with the integration at a calm and comfortable pace, for both Khanyisa as well as the herd.

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