2000-2009 In 2000, the ‘Matriarch’ (about 60 years old) was seen by the late Lyall Watson. She was standing on the edge of the Harkerville forest staring towards the sea. This was the last (known) occurrence of an elephant crossing the National Road to Harkerville (Van der Vyver, 2014; Watson, 2002). The sighting by Watson meant that the ‘Matriarch’ was not dead after all, but was elsewhere, in places where elephants had not roamed for almost a quarter of a century. The ancient elephant pathways at Harkerville had beckoned again … Read the full article…