The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild is a book by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence about Anthony's own life. It was published in 2009, but it is about things that happened before 2003. Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. published it. It is about a game preserve in South Africa called Thula Thula where a herd of elephants come to live.[1][2][3][4]
Lawrence Anthony tells the reader about elephants who came to live at Thula Thula in 1999.[5] They had been at a different game preserve, but they learned how to break through the electric fence and escape. This was bad because they ate people's crops and because any human who wanted to could kill them. The oldest elephant was shot by humans.
Usually, African game wardens did not talk to or go near the elephants because this can change their natural behavior. But these elephants were so angry at and afraid of humans that Anthony decided to do something different. He decided to make friends with them so they would not hate humans. In the book, he tells the reader how he became friends with the elephants, caught poachers, made deals with African humans who lived nearby, for example the Zulu king and chiefs, took care of a sick baby elephant, and ran the game preserve.
The audiobook recording of The Elephant Whisperer won an Audie Award for best biography or memoir.[1]