The animals came in two by two

The animals came in two by two

Writer Elaine Davie

Just under four years ago, word got around in Kleinmond that a piece of land on the sea side of Lamloch had been sold and that it was going to be developed as a game reserve, specifically for elephants. Almost immediately the rumour mill went into overdrive.

The owner of Lamloch, Craig Saunders will be introducing two or three elephants to his 455 ha sanctuary within the next few months. He has already established similar sanctuaries at Hartbeespoort, Hazyview and The Crags near Plettenberg Bay.

“What about the horses – their home range will be limited,” was one source of mounting hysteria. Even worse: “This is no place for elephants – the property is too small; there are no trees – what will they eat; they will escape and then what – we’ll have elephants invading our gardens and stampeding down the Main Road of Kleinmond – as if the baboons aren’t bad enough!”

As time went by the controversy gathered momentum. First the game fencing and gates went up – “so it’s true then”; then the land was cleared of aliens – “at least that’s a good thing”; then some old outbuildings on the property were demolished – “Ja, you know, they’re going to spoil the landscape with a luxury hotel and a conference centre and I don’t know what else – they probably haven’t even done a proper environmental assessment”.

At least there was no sign of elephants… yet! And then a collective sigh of relief – “CapeNature has turned down their application to keep elephants; see, what did we say all along, the place is not suitable for elephants – so what are they going to do now?” And then there was the recent drama when some of the Rooisand horses were separated from the rest of the herd and “were being held” on the property: ‘“You see what’s happening now – he can’t offer rides on elephants, so he’s going to tame the horses and organise horse-back safaris.”

Click Below to read more.