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Indlovu The Elephant Dog

There was once an extremely ugly dog called Indlovu. His name meant ‘elephant’ and he had been given the name by David’s father when he first arrived at their house as a young pup. With his overly big ears, long snout and grey colour he had looked exactly like a tiny elephant and thus had been given the Zulu name for elephant: Indlovu. David was his owner and they had been together since they were both young. As Indlovu grew older he became more and more elephant-like in appearance with his thick legs and grey coat; even his bark had a hollow trumpeting sound to it! But for all his strange appearance, Indlovu was an extremely good, loyal and protective dog.

David’s father was a game ranger and they had lived in three different places during his lifetime: three beautiful South African National Parks. A better or more interesting life a boy could not have wished for. Then they moved yet again and for David, it was yet another series of adjustments: new home, new school, new friends.

Their new home was in the Camdeboo National Park and the first few weeks were spent by David exploring the wonderful variety of sights the park had to offer. Situated at the foot of the Sneeuberg range their little ranger’s cottage was often in the shadow of the gigantic mountains from as early as four o’clock in the afternoons. David loved the mountains – from the eerie quiet of the awesome Valley of Desolation to the graceful lines of what he thought of as “their own bit of Sneeuberg” bordering the line of cottages belonging to the park rangers and their families. He and his father spent many hours together walking along and observing the unique plant and wildlife – from tiny beetles to plants with leaves which resembled rabbit’s ears to herds of great kudu and black wildebeest. David soon made friends with one of the other ranger’s children – a boy named Tim and his little sister Zukisa.

Then one day, the peace in the park was interrupted by a problem: a couple of cruel and irresponsible people had stopped their car on the highway bordering the park and dumped a basketful of kittens at the side of the road. Having rid themselves of their responsibility they simply drove off. Only one of these cats survived and it turned feral (which means wild). Alone, confused and having to fend for its existence it lived on the outskirts of the camp where it soon began causing serious problems. It stole chickens and crept into houses. Worst of all, it attacked a woman – leaving her seriously scratched and bleeding.

School holidays had arrived and the feral cat had all but been forgotten about. David and Tim would go for long walks and spend hours fishing in a small stream high in the mountains. Zukisa who was too small to go with them would cry and Indlovu, who adored the little girl, would walk over to her and lick away her tears.
“When you are bigger you can come with us,” Tim would say, “but for now you must go home and stay with Mom.” At times like these, Zukisa would cry and cry.

Tim was a nice boy and a good friend but he was inclined to tease. He would often tease his sister and sometimes David. Worst of all, for David, was when Tim said nasty things about Indlovu. Tim would turn to Indlovu and say things like: “You’re so ugly – at least we won’t be bothered by any lions – one look at you and they’ll turn to stone!” or “at least we have one of the Big Five living in the Camdeboo;” and David’s worst one: “Hello Smelly Ellie.” This was the one time that David would get upset. “You know nothing about Indlovu,” he would say angrily. “He is the bravest dog in the whole world. I could tell you stories about his bravery …” but Tim would never listen and always ran ahead laughing.

Then there was ‘the incident with the carrots’.
Tim and Zukisa’s father had a small vegetable patch behind their cottage and to his annoyance, one morning he walked out to discover that during the night a dog with very large paws had dug up all his carrots. As there was only one dog with paws that size, he knew exactly which dog that was. Angrily he marched straight to David’s house and complained to David’s father who offered to pay for the damage.
“It’s alright,” Tim’s father had said, “but please ask David to keep his dog out of my vegetable garden.”
Later David’s father had talked to him about Indlovu’s behaviour. “You must keep that dog under control” he had said. “We don’t want trouble with the neighbours.”
That afternoon Tim had come over to play and had told David that his father was only a little bit angry and it was no big deal. Turning to Indlovu he said: “and you Smelly Ellie – keep away from Dad’s vegetables!”

A few days later, after much nagging, the two boys were given permission by their parents to put up a tent in the back garden of David’s house. They planned to spend the night there and excitedly made their preparations. A list was written and sleeping bags, torches, books and a lantern were all piled up in readiness. Zukisa as usual cried and cried when she was once again told she was too young to do something the boys were old enough to do. As he hammered in the last tent pole Tim turned to her and, in an attempt to make her feel better said: “You won’t enjoy it - it will be scary!”
“I like scary!” was all Zukisa had replied. In a huff she had marched back to her home where her mother had asked her to help with baking a cake. But Zukisa would not help and simply sat sulking outside their house scratching lines in the sand with a stick. As she scratched Zukisa was busy planning something. “Want to leave me out of things,” she whispered: “I will show you who will be left out.”
What little Zukisa planned to do was to sneak out later with her own torch and creep into the tent when the boys were asleep. “How surprised they are going to be when they wake up in the morning and find I have spent the night in the tent after all.” And on and on she muttered, working on her plan.

Towards late afternoon, both the boys’ fathers took them for a drive with some tourists who wanted to go game watching. They were lucky and spotted a couple of zebra and a troop of baboons. As usual David and Tim both thought about what a wonderful, privileged life they led. Every trip from the shortest walk to the longest ride out game-viewing was a journey of discovery. There was always something new to be seen in a National Park and no two days were ever the same.

Much later the air chilly, they had a braai with their parents and the tourists. As usual at times like these, wonderful stories were told around the camp fire. After the tourists left, the two boys excitedly grabbed their torches and a bag of midnight snacks and headed for the tent.

Zukisa and her parents walked home – and for once Zukisa was not crying!

Later as the boys lay in their sleeping bags telling stories they suddenly saw a large shadow cast against the tent and a heard a scratching noise on the opening flap. “What is that?” whispered Tim. But then they realized what it was – it was only Indlovu who wanted to come in.
“No Indlovu!” said David. “There’s not enough space in here for you as well. Sleep outside and be on guard.”

Indlovu reluctantly flopped down on the grass but he did not sleep. He had been told to be on guard and one large, flappy ear was constantly lifted to listen for danger.
Much later still, Indlovu heard a sound. He did not like what he heard and he knew that something was not quite right.

Little Zukisa had fallen asleep at first but she awoke towards midnight and remembered her plan to sneak into the tent. Quietly getting out of bed she picked up her pink, plastic torch, opened the front door and walked out into the night. The night was moonless and very dark and Zukisa, who was still not quite fully awake, took a wrong turn. Instead of heading down the road to David’s house she walked up the road towards the river bank. As she neared the river the ground was very uneven with huge dongas (holes which had been washed out by the last storm) and to her horror the little girl stumbled and fell into one of these dongas. But worse was still to come - a short distance away from her she heard a strange sound – a frightening low, yowling noise. Shining her torch in the darkness she looked straight into a pair of yellow eyes. She was trapped in the donga with the feral cat!

Leaping to his feet Indlovu followed the sound of the yowl. In no time at all he picked up a scent: the scent of his little friend Zukisa. What was she doing out at night? Moving quickly now he could hear the girl’s sharp breathing and he knew he was close. He could also hear a horrible, low, meowing noise. His eyes accustomed to the dark, Indlovu peered over the edge of the donga. At exactly the same moment, the cat sprang at Zukisa raking its claws over her arms as she held them up, protecting her face. Without a second thought Indlovu leapt into the hole and sank his teeth into the cat. Zukisa managed to scramble up the side of the hole, clinging to roots and once at the top she screamed as loudly as she could. From the nearby cottages lights went on and people with lanterns and torches rushed out into the night. Soon they found the little girl and were greeted by a terrifying sight as Indlovu and the cat fought below them in the donga. Suddenly it seemed the cat had given up. It lay quite still on its side and David’s father, who was one of the people who had woken up, called Indlovu up and away from the cat. The dog was badly scratched and lay down on the ground beside them panting. Peering down into the dark hole someone noticed that the cat was still alive and a man ran back to his house and fetched a cage into which they gently put the injured cat. Later still that night, David’s father and Tim, with Zukisa between them wrapped in a blanket, drove to the nearby town of Graaff-Reinet. On the backseat - his head on his beloved David’s lap lay Indlovu and in the rear of the truck was the cage holding the cat. Their first stop was at the hospital where in the emergency section Zukisa’s scratched arms were cleaned and bandaged. She was given an injection and didn’t cry once!

From the hospital they telephoned the vet and their next stop was at his house. The vet, in his dressing gown, was waiting for them on his front porch. Indlovu was carried in and had to be given stitches and stay overnight for observation. The feral cat was also given stitches and the vet told them that his son was very good at rehabilitating wild animals. He would give the cat to him to tame and look after.

What a night it had been and as they drove back to their cottage, all three children fell asleep in the back of the truck.

The following evening they again drove into Graaff-Reinet to fetch Indlovu whom the vet had declared was “as strong as an ox”. He was waiting beside the vet on the porch for them and wagged his tail as they pulled up. He limped a little as they slowly walked him to the truck. Then they lifted him onto the back seat where he lay happily on a blanket between his master David and his friend Tim. Tim threw his arms around Indlovu’s neck and whispered to him: “I will never call you names again. You truly are the bravest dog in the world.”

When they arrived back home, Tim and Zukisa’s father was waiting for them with something in his hands: a big bowl of chicken and carrot stew!
“It’s for Indlovu,” he said softly. Then he added: “I was mistaken in thinking Indlovu dug up my carrots. It must have been another dog.” Of course everyone knew that it had been Indlovu but they all nodded in agreement.

Indlovu lapped up the chicken stew and then lay down on his cushion and slept a wonderful, happy sleep. Tomorrow would be another day for the elephant dog and who knew what wonderful adventures still lay ahead.