The Elephant Whisperer

My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

By: Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Biography/Memoir, 2014

When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

The Elephant Whisperer is a heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad account of Anthony's experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures. Set against the background of life on an African game reserve, with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, it is a delightful book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.

©2009, 2012 Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An inspiring, multifaceted account, Anthony's book offers fascinating insights into the lives of wild elephants in the broader context of Zulu culture in post-Apartheid South Africa." ( Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful book

This was an amazing look into the Thula Thula preserve and the amazing minds and hearts of the elephants that live there.

Captivating, One of my New Favorites

This book was captivating, heart warming and brought me to tears many times. It is a beautifully written first hand account of life in the African Bush. If you love nature and animals I can't recommend it enough.

Wonderful!

My second time listening and I still love everything about this book. Why can’t humans be more like elephants?!

Honest Africken conservation story

elephants are a lifetime interest to me and the efforts to keep them safe is mandatory

Beautiful story of a deep connection between human and animal.

I was so intrigued by the story between Anthony and the herd I couldn’t put it down.

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!

Just a charming story wonderfully read by Simon Vance. Don't over think it; just enjoy it.

#1 on my list for this year

Listening to this book transported me from my car to the African bush. Simon Vance was so authentic in his reading that I felt as though I were listening to the author. The interactions with the elephants were beautiful and, at times, frightening. The love that Lawrence Anthony had for these and all creatures was apparent as he often risked his life for theirs. Thula Thula is a place that I would love to visit.

A Surprise Hit!

What a surprise! I loved this book. I’m not usually a fan of animal stories. Usually they are too cutesy and just not my thing. This book, however, somehow got through this block of mine, and it rose above any cutesy-ness and was moving, well written, and eye opening.

The first I’d read about the intelligence of elephants was indirectly in the novel, “Like Water for Elephants, “ which I loved. Here, the author learns first hand and in real life about the magnificent capabilities of elephants… both physical and mental, since he is in charge of a game reserve in Africa and agrees to take in a herd of angry elephants. To me, however, the most impressive part of the book was the ability of the author to “psychoanalyze” all types of animals on his reserve and in his life – from the elephants down to his bull-terrier dog, Max. His analyses are really interesting and raise the book up a notch or two. The author is an amazing man: an outdoorsman, a man’s man, and also a wonderful, kind, brave, and understanding human being. He managed to throw in a few tidbits about the important people in his life in just the right proportion to the rest of his story. For example, the anecdotes about how he met his wife and later how he came to marry his wife were interesting, funny, and just the right length so as not to detract from his main focus of the animal reserve and the elephants he adopted.

I thought it was interesting that the whole idea of adopting the elephants was to keep them alive and keep them wild. Angry elephants are too dangerous and will most likely be killed, so he needed to work with this group for many months to quite them down but not to domesticate them. He had to strike a balance between working with them, in his own unique way, and leaving them alone. In the end, he succeeded and then writes about how he now doesn’t interact very much with these elephants since his main goal of getting them to accept their surroundings has been accomplished. Along the way, he changes his perceptions – and the readers’ – about the capabilities of elephants, and as he falls under their spell, so do we!

Heart of Africa

The Elephant Whisperer is the true story of a Conservationist who started a wildlife preserve in South Africa. Early in the story he is asked to take a herd of dangerous elephants who will otherwise be killed. This is at the heart of the story, although by no means the entire story.


This wildlife preserve, Thula Thula, is a place the author refers to numerous times as “Paradise”. By the end of the book we really feel like it is his own little version of Heaven, replete with glorious sunsets, stretches of untamed earth, and the noble creatures that roam there upon. Nevertheless, it is a paradise without God.

Throughout this entire narrative, we see a man who has made his life’s work that of preserving and protecting the wilds of Africa. Here is a man who so reveres wildlife in all its forms, that he abstains from killing a very dangerous snake, even when it slithers into his bedroom. He would rather walk than move his car, because a spider had created a beautiful web on it that morning. Here also is a man who writes tender accounts of his connection with elephants; this connection is tangible in his rehabilitation of them to accept conditioned human contact.

Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence are gifted storytellers with a Passionate love for Life. Yet, for all of the splendor, and for all of the reverence for creatures great and small, God was the only thing I felt was truly absent in this book. It felt like something was missing, and that was it. To witness all of the beauty and majesty of Africa as detailed in this sincere autobiography, and still not see God, was heartbreaking (if not the turning of a blind eye).


Another stellar performance by Simon Vance.

Great Book!

Would you listen to The Elephant Whisperer again? Why?

This man is my hero. To go through all that to save elephants is incredible. To save any animal at that cost!