Ahh, that stop.
We had lunch there and had to linger a little longer than what became usual as there was a puncture just a little further back.
You can see #1 giving a talk and all around are listening. That’s Johannes Haasbroek he runs an Elephant Conservation Trust and we’d stopped right in the middle of the area that he looks after. He was telling about the elephants that he’s responsible for and giving us some insight into the ways of the elephant and some history about the differences of desert elephants to others. He comes across as hugely knowledgeable, charming, humorous and slightly goofy and irreverent. He’s an excellent story teller with a very sharp mind attached to a similar tongue. So, he was having fun being in his world and having a really interested audience.
I’m the one lying down there. As he’d been talking, what piqued my interest was that it seemed that there was quite a bit tension around his job. He was really angry about something with most of the heat being directed at the occasional mention of politics. As everyone was being polite and no one else was going to go there, I piped up and asked, how has this effort of his been taken up by the locals who live in the areas. This was clearly very close to his heart, he hesitated for a moment and then said, “Oh, here it comes!”. I was a little confused by his response, but tried again, genuinely interested now not only in the answer but by the unusual response.
He started slowly, but warmed to the tale. He’d managed to get the locals on-board and invested in the plight of the elephants and see them as their own, he was obviously very proud of this, but clearly this had taken a lot of hardship and no small amount of pain because of politics.
There is big foreign money that just loves coming in and taking out Elephants as trophy animals. The government are not helping him at all and on the contrary, they claim there are literally thousands of elephant, when in fact there are only 3 bulls and a few cows. He’s certain that there’s a ton of corrupt fingers in the pie. He personally once bought the licence for one of the bulls to save it. He has very trying and constant running battles with the Government and Wildlife officials in this regard. Whilst we were up there, he was in one edition on the front page of the national newspaper twice! Once for the Honda Quest thing and the other was about the Minister claiming that Johannes was lying about Elephant numbers.
I kept asking the how’s and why’s of the politics to get an understanding of how it all works and of course how he has handled it. Johannes is nothing if not intensely passionate and emotional about his chosen path, he’s literally known as the Elephant Man. Many years previously in another career, he had a vision of doing this work with elephants. In some ways, he claims they saved him from the path that he was on.
Here then was what was really at the heart of his anger; Though he’s put up an immense fight, it seems a bit hopeless because of the faceless greedy bureaucrats. The end result of which is that the desert elephants will go extinct under his watch. His life’s calling was being extinguished.
Anyway, he took my inquisitiveness at first with some reluctance but as I kept at it he became more and more upset. I don’t think he’s ever had the opportunity to vent to a group of these deeper issues and his emotion boiled over when I stated, “you’re clearly an excellent conservationist but a shit politician”. (by his own admission he had little time for the politics and even less for the politicians). This large heart he wears on his sleeve was his Achilles heel when dealing with political ego’s/
He had tears of rage behind his glasses when he turned and said something along the lines of “You can go fuck off, you’re either with them or with me!”
I had pushed a bit too far. That sharp mind and tongue that loves a good banter hid a soft big heart.
I gently said back, “Johannes, I am undoubtedly with you on this and don’t for a second think I’m questioning your ethics. I am sorry to have made you think I was”
That was the end of that and almost at the same time, Jacko came over to tell us to saddle up. Johannes recovered quickly, but I wondered if I hadn’t done some irreparable damage to our relationship.
There had been a growing tension in the group quietly listening to all this and as we all ambled off to our bikes the peanut gallery was giving me stick. Clinton who always has a chirp available and is a super nice guy and by his own admission doesn’t like conflict said to the group about me, “fuck it, I thought I wouldn’t have minded being paired with you, but now I’m glad I wasn’t!”. I think some had thought possibly that I was goading him or just being argumentative for the sake of it.
I brewed on that conversation for a while as we rode on, especially in the context of the competition. I was going to corner him at the next stop and make sure he was ok. But as the day wore on, there just wasn't an opportunity, so I had to leave it. I am certain that some who’d been party to the conversation saw me in a new light and not a good one either.
So, 2 days on I sort of got my chance, when Johannes was really struggling in the sand, I wasn’t sure that he’d be ok to have me get into his head a second time. Clearly this elephant doesn’t have as good a memory because he threw himself enthusiastically into the exercise we created to help him and he never fell again.
A rocky start, but we’re firm friends now, I look forward to seeing him again. He’s a good man.
