Albino Baby elephant Khanyisa’s incredibly emotional greeting by the Jabulani Herd

Khanyisa received such a powerful and emotional greeting from the Jabulani herd when she joined them in the bush on Saturday. It was an incredible experience to capture this greeting ceremony, as they rushed to welcome Khanyisa. The intense trumpeting, roaring and array of very expressive displays happen all at once, including head raising, urination, defecation, spinning, secretion from their temporal glands, amongst other behaviour. Klaserie, Bubi and Setombe reacted first, running to meet her. Soon after the rest of the herd joined very quickly - it is impressive to see how fast they can run! During the excitement, Khanyisa is caressed by many loving and protective trunks as her family surrounded her lovingly. Fishan, a bull who fractured his leg in 2018, took a bit longer to join in due to not having full mobility of his leg. But join, he did! Jabulani (second most dominant bull in the herd) took his time to join the ceremony, but he had been with Khanyisa as they had met up with the rest of the herd. Klaserie and Setombe showed some curiosity towards the end as Adine was with Khensani, one of Khanyisa’s carers who the herd are not too familiar with as of yet. It was a fantastic display of excitement, happiness, love and protection for little Khanyisa by her unique and accepting family.