Sincerely, Jacob

The Magnificent Seven

As I walked through a nearby shopping mall here in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, I was stopped by the sight of these beautiful bronze elephant statues in an art shop. What struck me about these elephants is that they looked as though they were renditions of actual elephants that lived - the details were too specific.

My chat with the shop owner confirmed my suspicion - these were the late famous Magnificent Seven of Kruger.

In the 1980s, there lived seven bull elephants in Kruger National Park. All of the seven were born between the late 1920s and early 1930s. These seven were unique in that they each had tusks that weighed over 100lbs (50kg). Elephants with tusks that size are called “tuskers”, and are the rarest to find given the legacy of ivory poaching.

Park management began to promote the elephants to highlight their conservation success. Paul Bosman was commissioned to draw portraits of them that were used.

Today, you can find the tusks of all but one of the Magnificent Seven at Letaba Rest Camp near Kruger. Thankfully, all the bulls died of natural causes.

There are no remaining tuskers in South Africa. In fact, the only place to find African elephant tuskers is the Serengeti / Maasai Mara ecosystem that straddles Kenya and Tanzania. It’s possible that some forest elephant tuskers exist in the Congo rainforest, but impossible to know for certain.

To witness a tusker in 2024 is a miracle. I intend to do so in the coming months.

Calm under pressure

Fortunately or unfortunately, it seems the only way to learn how to be calm under pressure is through experience. It’s not something you can simulate effectively. The body and mind have to experience the true sensations that they’ll contend with when the stakes are real.

Who willingly puts themselves in those situations? One example that comes to mind are special forces; they’re probably the peak of humanity in that realm.

The funny thing is that as you ascend the ladder of chaos, the lower wrungs do not appear treacherous.

I had this experience recently.

When I exited my bus in the Johannesburg bus station, I immediately asked a nearby policewoman where I might call an Uber. When I told her I was going to Soweto (the largest township in South Africa, in many parts unsafe), she asked if I was afraid. Even after my explanation that I was headed to a backpackers there, she ushered me to follow her to other policemen. When I asked why, she told me I needed to be searched…

I could’ve panicked and reacted poorly, but I reacted by smiling and saying “I don’t think I do, but let’s go see them.” Right when we met the other officers, they knew what I was talking about and I was on my way.

Travel is a wonderful opportunity to face challenges. As my experience builds, so too does my tranquility amongst mayhem.

Sincerely,

Jacob

P.S. 143,000 views on Instagram for my “Coworker reaction to quitting…” video, but not a 1% conversion rate for followers. Going to dive into this.