Thank you so much for you insane generosity towards my initiative! With the new donations, we have managed to adopt 2 new elephants, of which Gobisa is one.
Gobisa was a captive elephant made free from tourist rides when he got adopted by Thula Thula. He is a special elephant because he was brought to Thula Thula to be a role - model for the younger male elephants from Nana's original herd. He taught many young males, including Mandla (The largest elephant now), who was just a teenager at that time good manners. Gobisa made the male elephants at Thula Thula a lot calmer, and better socialized.
When Gobisa first arrived at Thula Thula, he was not particularly liked by Mabula and Illanga, sons of Frankie; as they didn't want him as a stepfather. However, they eventually came to accept him as Frankie's mate.
Thula Thula had a contraception program to prevent the herd from getting too large because of land constraints (in South Africa, you need a certain land:elephant ratio in game parks to create a safe & healthy environment for both humans and animals). This meant that all the males in the herd were disallowed from breeding except for Gobisa, as he was the mature dominant male. He also had outside DNA to protect the genetic diversity of the herd.
Now with the tragic death of Frankie, Gobisa, her mate, may be depressed. I decided to adopt him because in dark times like these, I think he could use some loving! In the video below, you can see this magnificent elephant up-close. And if you scroll further, you can read more about Gobisa in his bio from Thula Thula.
