Serofu and Her Clan

Book excerpt: Serofu and Her Clan “Life of the African Elephant” by: Lambert van Buuren In this story, Lambert’s goal was to capture the lives of African Elephants from the elephant’s point of view as these animals were being poached and culled out of existence. The African elephant is not a domesticated animal as are their Indian cousins. African elephants were poached until 1989 when poaching was banned, by then their numbers had dropped dramatically. The story is based on facts found in National Geographic magazines and Animal Planet channel specials as far back as 1990. As a story teller, Lambert gave the animals voices and added two African folklore as told by Humphrey Harman entitled “Thunder, Elephant and Dorobo”, and “Podhu and Aruwa” to better give the elephants their voices and you, the reader/ listener the elephants prospective on life. Chapter one opens with Serofu, the matriarchal elephant and her clan observing “The Rituals and Customs of Elephants”. Upon reading the opening of this story, one finds the main character, Serofu, had lead her clan to a large pool of water where lions had decided to rest when she heard Mobutu cry out in pain through infrasound.