the life of ingani in pongola game reserve

The Life of INGANIin Pongola Game Reserve

Re-Introduced from

Kruger National Park in 1982

When Ingani arrived he joined the two resident elephant families who were

introduced to Pongola Game Reserve in 1997.

Elephant families feeding happily along the shore of Lake Jozini

When elephants feed they change the ecosystem so that others can benefit.

Ingani feeding on the roots of an umbrella thorn

I

Elephants prefer to walk their natural pathways but man has put up fences

Most of the old elephant migratory roots pioneered many of the road networks that exist

throughout Africa today

Ingani, the icon for Space for Elephants, explores a way in which to expand the

habitat where he lives...

Let’s see what happens next..

Ngani considers using the subway to cross the railway line

If he does he will be showing that other elephants could do the same and thus create corridors for elephants to ‘migrate’...

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Can Ingani walks through this subway that is barely wide enough for his huge frame ?

About to enter the subway, Ngani flares his ears, like a cat using his whiskers to measure how wide the tunnel is – can he fit?

He’s in – evidence of his courageous and adventurous character – what an icon!

He shows that space for elephants can be created in this way, linking land across highways and railways and thus reducing the pressure on habitat destruction in confined areas.

He made it!

Totally unmoved by anyone’s presence, the gentle giant walks through the subway

The tunnel is no longer a challenge but a new asset – his rubbing post.

Ngani is loved and enjoyed by tourists because he is gentle and always full of new antics.

Ngani faces another linking land challenge -crossing the railway this time over the top.

Ngani is 40 years old in this picture and set to become a big tusker!

Ngani becomes a celebrity when

he makes his appearance on

the front cover of Wildside

magazine

Ngani loves living at PGR - feeling the heat he knows just where to cool down.

Time for a collar change...

Ngani has been immobilized three times for a radio collar change and once for an unsuccessful vasectomy operation. Yet, he has never shown any resentment towards the people responsible for these interventions.

...evidence of his memory & intelligence.

Ngani usually goes into ‘hiding before a collar change...

...within 12 hours Ngani is back to his pleasant and generous temperament...

Managing increasing elephant populations in small reserves is a challenge – PGR responsibly promote a well- researched vasectomy contraception program

Ngani’s vasectomy was unsuccessful so he is darted every 6 months with a GnRH vaccine to prevent him from coming into musth and fathering more elephant calves.

This gentle giant has faced many losses during his life in Pongola, but he loves his home.

Douw (in 1999) and Nkosi (in 2000) were killed by the train traversing PGR.

Ngani’s mentors were shot by conservation authorities or hunters - Joachen in 1998, Nduna in 2006 and Impi in 2010 - because they kept escaping from PGR to visit with other neighbouring elephants.

Ngani a week before breaking off a piece of his right tusk

Ngani – in his wisdom? - breaks a tusk, possibly in a clash with another elephant bull. He knows he has been contracted with a hunter to be killed.

The right tusk is

cracked 25 cm from lip

and it is a concern that a

nerve is exposed.

• Will the exposed nerve develop into complications such as infection and a root abscess? This could lead to behavioural changes including aggression.

• Will the split tusk break off?• Is it be a good decision to sell

Ngani to be because of the broken tusk issues and because he is most accused of habitat degradation and the growth of the elephant herd beyond the carrying capacity of this small reserve?

Before he could be hunted his right tusk broke of completely

On the day of the hunt the hunter decided his tusks were still to small to kill him then…

Ngani’s broken off tusk was never found

It is suspected that his tusk broke off while wallowing in the mud pools along lake Jozini

His broken tusk now poses no health threat. What does the future now hold for Ngani?

Ngani bathing and wallowing in lake Jozini

Lets spare Ngani from being hunted and reverse the decision made two years ago

Every sponsorship and donation to save Ngani is urgently needed

Space for Elephants Foundation is a registered Non-profit organization (033-303 NPO) and Trust (IT 398/02)

Bank details: Space for Elephants FoundationABSA bank PongolaBranch Code: 334-724Account No: 4055718662