Tembe, Saving the Sihangwane Elephants

Tembe is the story of the Sihangwane elephants and the Tembe Elephant Park. In this largely autobiographical account, author Ed Ostrosky guides readers through the history of the Tembe Elephant Park, following the transition from 'elephant control' to the tragic but necessary confinement of Sihangwane's free-roaming elephants in a 30000-hectare game reserve.

This deeply personal narrative is not the usual game ranger's memoir filled with amusing anecdotes and cuddly animals. Instead, it details negotiations, problem elephants, management challenges, bureaucratic bungling, political upheavals, and encounters with dissidents and poachers. Tembe is an honest and impactful account of the incredible efforts it took to protect the Sihangwane elephants during a period of armed conflict and revolutionary change – and the personal cost it exacted.

'Now I must thank him (Edward Ostrosky) again, for he has committed to paper the remarkable history of the Tembe Elephant Project. There is no one better equipped to write this history, and perhaps no one better full-stop; for he has told this story with charm, pragmatism, honesty and detail.'

-Prince Mangosuthu G Buthelezi, former Chief Minister of KwaZulu