Beyond The Secret Elephants - Of Mystery, Elephants And Discovery

Beyond the Secret Elephants continues the story of Gareth Patterson’s eighteen years of research into the secretive Knysna elephants. It also reveals his startling discovery of a much more mysterious being than the elephants – a relict hominoid known to the indigenous forest people as the Otang.

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As I passed a house on my way to the forest, one of our neighbours, Albury, waved and called me over for a chat. Albury worked at the Knysna Correctional Services. He asked me how my elephant work was going and later in our conversation he remarked, ‘Yes, the forest is very big, hiding the elephants as well as other strange creatures if my colleague at Correctional Services is to be believed.’

‘Other strange creatures?’ I said, almost sure that I knew what I was about to hear.

‘Ape men,’ said Albury.

He went on to tell me that his colleague had, as a child, apparently seen an ‘ape man’ while in a Land Rover with his brother and parents.

‘We always rib him a bit when he tells this story, but he is convinced that he saw this creature, and his brotherconfirms what they saw. Give him a call if you would like to know more. He is a good guy, very friendly.’ Albury gave me the man’s number, and I called him a few days later.

The man was indeed very friendly. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘Albury told me that he had a chat with you about my brother and me seeing that ape man when we were kids. Man, I will never forget that for the rest of my life. What happened was this’, he continued, ‘my brother and I were with my parents, taking a ride one Sunday in the hills north of the forest. We were in the old “Landie” (Land Rover), an open roof affair. We would go out in it most Sundays with the folks. Mom and Dad upfront, and me and my brother in the back.’