Strangefoot – do we leave her be?
Wandering the depths of the Garden Route National Park, the only known survivor of the historic and iconic Knysna forest elephant herd, Strangefoot, faces an uncertain future. Conservationists and locals wrestle with the question: Should we intervene or let nature take its course?
‘Old foot has his own laws. Forest law.
“The same law that makes the day break, that keeps the Seven-star on its course, that makes the moon obey its phases, that decides the path of the sun in winter and in summer, that sends the rain… from the forest floor to the top of the highest tree, this law pulsates through everything like the rhythmical breathing of an almighty Being”
– Dalene Matthee, Circles in the Forest, 1985
Wandering among the Afromontane forest and fynbos in the Garden Route National Park’s Knysna forest, is Strangefoot.
Her name, given by rangers, comes from her unusually large and wide footprint. Now 50 years old, she’s believed to be the only surviving native Knysna elephant in the forest. She carries the weight of a dwindling legacy – one that conservationists are fiercely debating whether to save or leave alone.
The Knysna forest, part of the Garden Route National Park, was once home to 1,000 elephants that historically roamed between Afromontane forest and fynbos in the Outeniqua-Tsitsikamma area.
The San people, the original human inhabitants of the southern Cape, were the first people to chronicle elephants’ presence in the forest, and often depicted them in their rock art. By the late 1700s European settlers had arrived, and elephants began to retreat due to hunting. The conflict between humans and elephants intensified during the mid-1800s, decimating their numbers further.
Today, Strangefoot is the only elephant consistently tracked in the region by South African National Parks (SANParks).
Photo: Ryan Davy
