It has been a powerful two and a half weeks here in the Tradouw, the Valley of the Women, learning not only what it means to inhabit the sound, vocalisations, movements and characteristics of elephants, but about the absolute necessity of communal sensitivity and awareness when we work with puppetry. With the amazing puppetry trainer Craig Leo at my side and composer Simon Kohler guiding us, and our team of 14 super-puppeteers, we managed to replicate and develop the amazing rumbles, trumpets
and whooshes of these resonant giants. Then we merged mechanics and meaning, adapting what we thought we knew into Adrian’s magnificent kinetic frameworks, slowly working towards bringing energetic flesh and life to the ellies. We also connected back to the basics of what it means to trust and follow the matriarch, walking in nature and listening deeply, as Elephants do- looking forward to what the next two weeks bring,
Aja,
Olifantland director
“Nanna You’re the Matriarch” -Luyanda, Donna, Sipho and Zweli rehearsing our biggest elephant, NanaAll the elephants on the open parking lot at Karooltjie Kelder wine farm in BarrydaleAll the elephants on the open parking lot at Karooltjie Kelder wine farm in BarrydaleOur rehearsal venueEntering the world of the Elephants- our puppeteers in a characterisation and elephant exploration exercise on the land, connecting with sound, bodies, rhythms and nature
daily yoga, aikido and vocal warm upsEntering the world of the Elephants- our puppeteers in a characterisation and elephant exploration exercise on the land, connecting with sound, bodies, rhythms and natureEntering the world of the Elephants- our puppeteers in a characterisation and elephant exploration exercise on the land, connecting with sound, bodies, rhythms and natureEntering the world of the Elephants- our puppeteers in a characterisation and elephant exploration exercise on the land, connecting with sound, bodies, rhythms and natureEntering the world of the Elephants- our puppeteers in a characterisation and elephant exploration exercise on the land, connecting with sound, bodies, rhythms and natureSipho learning to move NanaOur baby NandiOur baby NandiOur baby NandiEllen trying on Nandi the baby elephantElton sings ‘Arise’- an original compositionLearning to make one conscious being out of four individuals- puppetry connection exercisessome time out at the beautiful pools in the Tradouw mountainsVuvusela’s and tubing help us replicate elephant rumbles and trumpetingcommunity meetings at Net vir PretSounding the elephants
Ek het verwag om militaristiese, tawwe jong vroue te ontmoet want dis die beeld wat ek gekry het toe ek vooraf inligting gesoek het om myself voor te berei vir ons besoek aan die Black Mamba’s. Ja hulle was fikse tawwe jong vroue maar ek was aangenaam verras, veral toe ons eers begin gesels oor ons kinders ‘n onderwerp wat alle ma’s verbind maak nie saak wie of wat jy is nie – oud, jonk, verskil van agtergrond of taal, ons almal was moeders, sisters, tannies, niggies, vroue.
Na ons patrollie van 20 kilometer wat ek en Aja end uit gestap het al het ons die opsie gehad om saam met een van die voertuie terug te kom, het ons saam met die Bush Babies deelgeneem aan hulle vakansie program. Dit was een van die vele hoogtepunte van my besoek. Ek het nie verwag om so vêr van die huis af met kinders te werk nie! Dit was wonderlik – daar was veral een seuntjie wat onmiddelik in my hart gekruip het, hy was die stilste van almal maar met als wat hy gedoen het, het hy met soveel konsentrasie gedoen, ek kon elke kind se persoonlikheid sien veral toe hulle diere beeldjies gemaak het van klei wat ons spesiaal vir hulle gaan haal het uit die Olifants rivier.
Maar om terug te keer na die eintlike doel van ons besoek, ek het vir Carol (een van die Black Mamba’s) meer vertel oor ons storielyn van ons show, een van die onderwerpe was “ancestoral graves on privately owned game reserves”, ons kon regtig “relate” want ons stories was amper dieselfde, toegang tot die grafte van ons voorvaders is nie vrylik beskikbaar nie – of ons kan glad nie die graftes besoek nie of ons moet eers toestemming kry en verbasend genoeg ontmoet ons vir Dr. Michelle Henley op die laaste dag van ons reis wat wonderlike inligting met ons deel oor die begrafnis ritueel van olifante en hoe olifante terugkeer na die “grafte” van hulle voorvaders, hoe toevallig is dit! Want net soos vir olifante is dit vir ons ook belangrik om weer die “gebeendere” van ons mense te besoek en hulde te bring aan hulle.
Ons gesprek met Dr. Michelle het ons werklik meer insig gegee oor Olifante. Voor my blootstelling aan olifante (ons wonderlike besoek aan Addo Olifant Park) en die stryd vir hulle oorlewing was olifante nie hoog op my prioriteits lysie nie. Ons bly in ‘n klein gemeenskappie, meer as die helfte van ons het nog nooit eers ‘n lewendige olifant gesien nie en wat nie naby jou gebeur nie is soms nie vir jou belangrik nie want die daaglikse lewe is soms vir baie van ons ‘n stryd vir oorlewing, maar ek het geleer deur net om te gee en ander bewus te maak kan ook ‘n verskil maak.
Die verbintenis en ooreenkomste tussen ons en olifante is so wonderbaarlik dat ek nie onaangeraak en ‘n buitestaander kon bly nie. Hoe Olifante omgee vir hul eie het my laat besef ek moet meer omgee vir my eie.
Ek het gewonder hoe die Balck Mamba’s kon doen wat hulle doen, elke dag sonder enige teken van vermoeienis. Hoe kan hulle vir die meerderheid van hulle tyd weg wees van hul geliefdes en nog steeds met soveel trots, soveel passie en soveel toewyding hulle take verrig? Die black mamba’s het my geleer dat dit belangrik is om te dink aan my toekoms en aan my doel – My toekoms sluit nie net mense in nie dit sluit ook diere in. Hierdie vroue het ‘n doel, dis wat hulle so passievol en gemotiveer maak, wat is my doel, wat is my rol?
Ek is Donna, my rol en doel is Versorger!
Dankie Handspring Trust vir die moontlikhede en geleenthede wat ek, ons, van Net vir Pret Barrydale kon beleef!
Kids at it with LucasBlomme en skoonlappies deur ClarissaJill Joubert our amazing children’s puppetry creator and Derek, from Net vir PretJJ and the bokkie!Kids puppet making and workshop leadersOur international volunteers representing South Korea, Germany and Australia!!!!!Not only did Adrian spend months creating a herd of life size elephants, he also then had to get stuck in to prop making!!!!!!Die DraadDirecting and scripting team: Aja and MaggiPuppet designer Clarissa from Net vir Pret with Daphne making puppets for the small kids ages 4-6yrsHerman Witbooi’s Bokkie designSimon working on sound composition
Day 2 of rehearsals began with our Creative Director Aja Marneweck leading the warm-ups and teaching our puppeteers the importance of breathing and opening their vocal channels. Music Director/Sound Engineer, Simon Kohler gave lessons on using the mouth and the voice as an instrument, thus manipulating the Vuvuzela to create elephant sounds that would help make the giant puppets come alive. Craig Leo, Puppetry Director, completed the day off with some introductory intense puppetry training where our puppeteers had the opportunity to test out the giant elephant puppets.
With the 18th of December just weeks away, the road to #Olifantland2016 is steadily making progress.
We are so excited about the original score for the new show Olifantland. Every year we have the consummate local youth band, the Jazz Monkeys working with Muso Gary Crawford to create the electric sound for the show, alongside Peter Takelo’s rollicking Riel Dans songs. This year we have composer Simon Kohler working with us to create a coherent sound scape that actually works with the subsonic frequencies of the elephants as a vital aural and resonant landscape within the production. Here are images from our first big rehearsal at the Net Vir Pret offices in Barrydale
Jill Joubert has been teaching the young leaders and children of Barrydale since 2010, how to make the most gorgeous and creative puppets from amazing materials, many of which are recycled. This year, she has two remarkable designers working alongside her, Clarissa and Herman from Net Vir Pret in Barrydale. Below are some of the prototypes for Olifantland, created at Jill’s studio in Observatory Cape Town
Last week, the puppet building team at the Handspring factory, 30 visitors from the National Gallery and artists from Net Vir Pret Barrydale, watched in joy and awe as Adrian Kohler’s latest designs for the elephants came to life for the first time! The puppet making team, under Adrian’s expert creative and technical eye, have been working for months on these, the latest puppets from the Handspring Puppet Company, created for the Handspring Puppet Trust’s project in Barrydale. What a sight to see!
The Nana the elephant’s trunk
Adrian holding up Nana’s head
Nana walks for the first time at the Handspring Factory in Cape Town
A conversation about family, belonging, the importance of land and remembering and honouring our elders, the trauma of forced removals. This interview with Dr Michelle Henley, director of Elephantsalive.org, was shot on location in Limpopo in October by Stanley John Films. It was part of field research, funded by the Handspring Puppet Trust and UWC Humanities Research Flagship, to facilitate the visit of 3 women from Barrydale and the Net Vir Pret children’s organisation, to spend time with conservation and anti poaching experts. This was in preparation for the new Handspring Puppet Trust community puppetry parade in Barrydale in December 2016, in assoc with Net Vir Pret and the UWC HSRC Flagship who are sponsoring Stanley John film’s documentary of the event (http://www.handspringpuppet.co.za)
Our first view of the Black Mambas was from outside the rickety minibus we had on loan from the Black Mamba’s headquarters and office, on the Olifants West Game reserve in Balule, Limpopo Province. A few km’s from Hoedspruit and the famous Kruger National Park. The Black Mambas were stablished in 2013 in an ‘experimental’ attempt by the rangers and Rhino conservationists at Balule, to find alternative ways to combat poaching. The Mamba’s are central characters in our new show Olifantland. They have provided inspiration for the female characters in our story, based on The Elephant Whisperer by Anthony Lawrence, which is dominated mostly by male characters. The characters of the Mambas in Olifantland are strong, resilient, feminine and create a narrative space for Barrydale women, who are too often sidelined, to explore these elements in their performance.
Our Barrydale team, Donna, Clarissa and two intrepid young leaders, Glanice and Chandre, had begun their journey from Barrydale in the Klein Karoo at 3 am to get to Cape Town International airport, to fly for the first time with myself and our documentary filmmakers Dale and Blake, to Joburg. After another seven hours drive from OR Tambo, we arrived, exhausted and eager to meet with the legendary Black Mambas, the first all female anti poaching unit in Southern Africa.
The Black Mamba women provide the first level of protection for the reserve, namely by increasing continuous unarmed presence on the electrified game fences and boundaries of the reserve. A definitively kick-ass feminine presence. We had seen videos of the Mambas and they are famous for their military style parades and don’t-mess-with-us self discipline.
Images by Julia Gunther @ black mambas.org
This goes a long way in creating the type of protective presence necessary to do their surveillance, unarmed in Big Five Animal territory (yes they walk unarmed for many kilometres a day through bush that is full of lions, elephants, buffalo etc…). The fact that they walk every day unarmed means that any potential poachers will hopefully not retaliate with guns themselves, but that their presence is a powerful, peaceful awareness through the fact that they ARE consistently THERE.
Image by James Suter on black mambas.org
They have successfully protected the land and animals for almost four years, scooping up international awards, including the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award for 2015. Wow! So needless to say we had a lot of thoughts, excitement and preconceptions journeying with us to Balule.
At 6:30 am we had our first scheduled patrol and meeting with the Black Mambas. . Four women walk towards us in the dead-dry sand, in full combat camo uniforms (which get specially flown in from the UK infantry), stern black boots and faces. They are composed, serious and know their jobs back to front. Carol, the most outspoken of the women with the walkie talkie (through which which she relays important info and monitoring between the Mambas on the ground, back to Annie and the rangers at the head office), steps forward and asks us if we can divide into two groups, one to do the long surveillance walk along the fence (20km’s!) to the Olifantsrivier, and the other the short walk along the fence in the other direction. Donna, Glanice and I join the long walk with Joy and Nobuntu, two petite and extremely fit young women who joined the Black Mambas in their second batch of recruits in 2013. It was a long and mostly silent walk, along the fence, needing to keep focused not least because we are walking in total vulnerability to whichever animals might come across our paths. We are also looking for damage to the fence, footprints, signs of poachers, holes.
In hind sight, the Mambas were more reserved and guarded than we had anticipated. They get a huge amount of international media publicity and coverage, with news agencies and reporters, students, researchers, organisations and politicians demanding their time and their stories on a weekly basis. So we were warned that they might be a bit guarded and reluctant to engage with us, which is understandable as they have an important job to do and all this attention gets in the way. These are President Jacob Zuma’s pride and joy as a shining example of SA women’s empowerment -the Mambas are mini celebrities in a way. The Government also pays a portion of their small salaries.
Who were we and what were we seeking from them? It was difficult to explain that we were creating a show about Elephants and animal conservation with the Barrydale community, that it would be told through life size puppets, and that we really wanted to bring in an awareness of feminine leadership and female empowerment to our story. We wanted to get a taste of the day to day realities of their lives and work. We wanted to spend time sharing their lives, to find out, as women from our own different spaces and backgrounds, exactly what it takes to do this type of high risk work in the masculinized, militaristic arena of anti-poaching protection and conservation. We were here to gain inspiration, advice, mentorship and inside info on what it is like to be a woman working on the ground to protect the land and animals.
I asked myself these question as massive blisters formed on my soft city feet as we walked the long path along the fence. How do the Mamba’s handle this walk every day? Don’t their bodies get sore and tired? Nobuntu is also not feeling so well this morning, but she is there walking and working through it. I was very nervous that we might stumble upon a herd of buffalo- I am not scared of lions, but I have been warned that buffalo are grumpy, aggressive and very dangerous to those on foot. Joy laughs at me and says, don’t worry, if you see a buffalo just run behind the largest tree and confuse it by moving in the opposite direction…What?! What tree?! The bush is dry dry dry and the trees are small and bare, Balule is in a total drought and water shortage. So basically if we stumble unawares onto buffalo, we’re goners. I put on a brave face, no need to alert Donna or Glanice, although I see both are very quiet and totally focused. Dale, the camera guy however seems to be totally unaffected and carefree, losing himself along the road to photograph…something…
We reach our target distance, just before the river, after a pretty uneventful stretch of fence, except for an amazing tree surrounded by dead leaves and ants, that rustled loudly like a full downpour of rain. But there was no promise of rain on any horizon. Joy and Nobuntu sit and we joke about a large Buffalo down by the water’s edge. Joy and Nobuntu are both Tsonga, and Joy was born near the Kruger. She joined the Black Mamba’s because the job was available and she loves the exposure and attention she gets. Her family are also very proud of her. The salary is not so great though and they really struggle to make ends meet. We also find out that the Black Mamba’s still have to walk to fetch their drinking water because the borehole has dried up and the reserve is in dire drought. They have no means of collecting the water so they walk backwards and forwards with 5litre bottles every day. No toilets with running water, no showers. There is one tiny two plate stove for them to cook on in their shared camp. Joy says that she has experience with fetching water in a wheel barrow in her home village, and that this would go a long way to making their lives a little easier, if they could collect water in larger amounts and containers.We head back, past a herd of wildebeest and Donna and I chat about what it would take to have to walk to fetch water every day after this massive perimeter walk. We are left with the feeling that everyone wants a piece of the Black Mamba’s, in a way their work is novel and draws so much attention, but there is very little financial reward or support on the ground for the real lives of these resilient women –
thanks for visiting our blog, next post I will explore some deeper conversations our Barrydale women had with the Black Mambas while on snare sweeps,
Olifantland 