Category Archives: History of Knysna

The history of Knysna is rich in timber, shipping and interesting people.

History of the Knysna Elephants 2000-2018

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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…

History of the Knysna Elephants 1980-1999

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1980-1989 By the early 1980’s the Forestry Department noticed fewer and fewer signs of elephant on their daily rounds. It was decided to scour all the reserves in the hope of locating a number of elephants. In 1980, two surveys, six months apart, which involved 20 teams of 10 forestry personnel searching the elephant’s known habitat, concluded that there is only one adult cow and calf remaining. In March 1981, Coert Geldenhuys and Julius Koen, together with two trackers, followed the tracks of the cow and calf from Diepwalle towards Buffelsnek. At the end of the … Read the full article…

History of the Knysna Elephants 1908-1979

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1908 In 1908, elephants were proclaimed as Royal Game. Thus they were protected from being hunted by all except the British royalty. Fortunately no further Royals passed by (Watson, 2002). However, it is a well-known fact that you cannot protect a species merely by declaring it to be protected. Because poachers usually come from the more ignorant classes, and quite often they will simply not have heard of the decree. Or if they are a bit more educated they will ignore the edict because they think they are clever enough … Read the full article…