Episode 76

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Published on:

25th Aug 2025

Nana Augustus

Ghia – Turns out the word August means venerable, majestic, or greatly honored. Do you know anyone worthy of this title? During my seasonal journey through Life, I have opted to make the month of August a time to remember these people, to honor them, and most importantly, to apply the lessons of their lives to my own.

The Elephant Whisperer http://amazon.com/dp/1509838538/

Transcript
Speaker:

Hooray, GIA here.

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I'm this week's host of the Creative

Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I

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talk about those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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Wow.

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We have made it to the end of August.

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It's only a week until September.

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As I was contemplating where

August has gone, I found myself

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wondering about the name August.

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Beyond liking or disliking

the sound of a name.

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I have never given names much attention

in the past, but through my study

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of the gospel, I have started to

recognize the importance of names.

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Have you noticed, it seems to me that

God pays a lot of attention to names.

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Michael's name was changed to Adam

when he was placed in the Garden of

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Eden, and then the first thing Adam

did when he got there was name all

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the animals names aren't just random.

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Eve was given her name because

she is the mother of all living.

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Her name has a specific meaning.

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Jacob's name was changed to Israel.

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Joseph Smith's name was prophesied

thousands of years before he was born.

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Babies are given a name and a

blessing with a special ceremony,

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we use certain names in the temple.

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I have come to believe that

names are very important.

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So August, do you have any

idea where the name comes from?

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Turns out the month was named

after the first Roman Emperor

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Caesar Augustus, August Augustus.

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You can hear the similarity, but this

wasn't the Emperor's original name.

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His birth name was Gaas.

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Octavius, But it was changed to

Caesar when he took the throne after

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Julius Caesar and Augustus was added

as a title after he became emperor.

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The title Augustus means venerable,

majestic, or greatly honored.

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Now, personally, I don't really care

much about the man, Caesar Augustus.

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He doesn't have any significance to me.

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But Augustus as a title, as the

name of a month I Encounter every

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year, that captivates me, venerable,

majestic, greatly honored August

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in my attempt to live closer to

the earth to live seasonally.

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I thought it might be worthwhile

to dive deeper into this word,

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August and see what it means to me.

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Okay.

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As I pondered, a thought kept coming

to my mind, but I constantly pushed it

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away as not being rooted in my current

life, my life here in the desert,

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southwest of North America, but the

thought persisted, so I gave in, Which

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means that today I want to tell you about

my encounter with a venerable, majestic,

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and highly honored elephant named Nana.

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Yep.

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This encounter happened while I was

in South Africa visiting Judy this

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last May, but the story began sometime

around November of:

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before Judy left on her mission.

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Judy had been studying up on South

Africa when she came across a book

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called The Elephant Whisperer.

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One thing about Judy is she loves to give

gifts, so before I knew it, I had a copy

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of the Elephant Whisperer, and once I

started reading, I couldn't put it down.

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The story gripped me.

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Let me give you a brief summary.

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In 1999, Nana was part of a herd

that was known as problem elephants.

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The herd was notorious for breaking

through the electric fence of

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their preserve and wreaking

havoc on the local villagers.

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Without many options, the

Preserve authorities slated

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the whole herd for execution.

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This sounds horrible.

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I know, but there is no

shortage of elephants in Africa.

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In fact, they are overrunning the few

places where they are still able to live.

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with the price of transporting an animal

the size of an elephant, the authorities

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didn't feel they had any choice.

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Fortunately, the owner of a new

preserve called Tula Tula herd of

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the elephant's plight and managed to

secure the funding to have the whole

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herd transported to his preserve.

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Unfortunately, due to the unruly conduct

of our problem, elephants and the

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impatience of the authorities, the herd's,

matriarch, and several of her sisters

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were shot before relocation could happen.

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This meant that Nana, as the oldest

living daughter, was thrust into her

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new role as leader without any warning,

and after witnessing the violent death

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of her mother and family members.

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Add to that being forced into the

bed of a semi-truck being drugged

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and then driven across the country

only to arrive in a completely

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new habitat and locked in a Bomba.

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A Bomba is the holding area meant

to help the elephants adapt to

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their new environment, but was

most likely seen as a prison.

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Any idea what Nana decided to

do her first night in the Bomba?

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she got one of her sister elephants

to help her knock over a giant

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tree that she could tell would

hit the wires of the Bomba.

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When the wires broke, allowing her to

escape the confines of this inner prison,

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she charged the preserves outer fence,

withstanding the fierce electrical jolts.

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This required and proceeded to

lead the whole herd on a jail break.

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Yep.

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Within a day, Nana escaped.

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in case you are wondering how

Nana orchestrated this escape.

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Let me explain.

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When the herd is together, all of the

elephants will be doing their own things,

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eating where and whatever they want.

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Some of the elephants may wander off and

the kids may get impatient and begin

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roughhousing, but the herd doesn't go

anywhere until the matriarch says so.

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And when she does, everyone, will start

heading in the direction she goes.

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to humans.

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There is no sound.

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We hear nothing.

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So how do the elephants,

without seeing the matriarch

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know what she wants them to do?

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Any ideas?

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It's through deep low

rumblings from the stomach.

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Have you ever heard that?

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Crazy, huh?

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it's kind of a new discovery, but

scientists have learned that elephants

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communicate through stomach rumbles.

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And here is something else that's crazy.

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Elephants, despite their size, have

an uncanny ability to disappear.

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I've seen it one minute an elephant is

right in front of you, and the next,

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they have pushed their way into an

impenetrable, thorny bush and disappeared.

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So can you imagine the panic the preserve

owner was experiencing when Nana escaped?

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First of all, if he doesn't get

the elephants back, they will be

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shot or possibly kill a person.

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And second of all, if he doesn't get

them back, no one will ever trust

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his ability to care for wild animals

again, and his preserve will fail.

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This was a desperate situation after

several unsuccessful attempts to round

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up the elephants, the only choice was

to resort to a helicopter and gunshots.

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Faced with this trauma, Nana reluctantly

allowed her herd to be returned to the

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confines of the newly fortified Bomba.

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But Nana was not happy for weeks.

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She was seen in the middle of the night

threatening to charge the electric fence

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Each time the preserve owner who in his

desperation opted to sleep outside the

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Bomba, would talk to her in a calming

voice saying anything he could think of.

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You don't want to break out.

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Stay where it's safe.

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I know you're scared.

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I know you don't have any reason to trust

humans, but please stay in the Bomba.

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Whatever he said worked because

Nana never broke out again.

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Instead, she changed tactics.

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Maybe it was the preserve owner's

calming voice or some kind of animal

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intuition, but Nana seems to have to

decided to get her heard out of the

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Bomba by placating the preserve owner.

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she did this by snaking her trunk through

the wires of the electric fence and

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caressing the chest of the preserve owner

leaving behind a trail of elephant snot.

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Her tactics worked.

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The owner decided Nana could

be trusted and that it was time

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to let her out of the Bomba.

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The book goes on to relate story.

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After story of the amazing nana

and her herd of elephants, Nana

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found safety for the elephants.

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During a fire, she stood for hours

in the blazing African sun with no

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water to shade a newborn elephant.

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And during this whole time, Nana,

this wild animal kept up a friendly

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relationship with the preserve owner.

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In fact, upon his unexpected passing

from a heart attack, Nana brought

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the whole herd to his funeral.

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Isn't that amazing?

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To us, it seems she would've had no way

of knowing he had died, but obviously

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she knew and she came and it gets better.

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Exactly.

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One year later, she returned.

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It appears she came back to

honor her long lost friend.

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uh, tell me that doesn't melt your heart.

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Sadly, Nana is no longer the matriarch.

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When she began going blind, her

daughter Frankie, took over.

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When Frankie died of a liver

disease, Frankie's oldest

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daughter became matriarch.

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But as you can imagine, as the

oldest member of the herd, Nana

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is treated with great respect.

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Now before I got to South Africa,

Judy got to visit Tula Tula for her

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birthday, and while she was out

on a game drive, Nana appeared and

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walked right up to the Safari vehicle.

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Judy was so excited, and while Nana

was walking past the driver happened to

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mention that Nana had just turned 60.

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Guess what?

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Judy and Nana are the same age.

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How fun is that?

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Now you can imagine that when I

got to spend a few days at Tula

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Tula, I had the secret hope of also

getting to see this majestic animal.

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But day after day, we didn't see her

on the very last drive, our guide

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pointed out an elephant named Nady.

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Nady is one of Nana's daughters.

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She is a huge elephant, and at the

time she was nursing a young bull and

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I decided I would have to be happy with

just seeing one of Nana's daughters.

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Now it's interesting to note that Nady was

wearing a tracking device around her neck.

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Tula Tula has several species.

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They monitor with tracking devices,

including the highly poached rhinoceros,

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the elephants, and the cheetahs.

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But only the Preserve Manager is ever

allowed to access this information.

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None of the Safari drivers can

track the animals, and not even

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the preserve Rangers who patrol the

park are privy to this information.

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That is because the preserve doesn't

want any of its employees faced

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with threats or bribes from poachers.

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So when I saw Nady with a tracker

around her neck, I had to wonder

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why she isn't the matriarch.

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Knowing where she is wouldn't necessarily

tell anyone where the herd is.

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I had also learned that putting a

tracking device on an elephant is

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dangerous because there is no way of

knowing which way an animal will fall.

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given the size of an elephant, falling

the wrong way can be quite dangerous.

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So why track Nady?

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When I asked our guide, I learned

that Nady keeps watch over her mother.

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Nady is always close to Nana.

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Isn't that amazing?

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I mean, I have heard that elephants

have strong family bonds, but

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I had no idea they would watch

over each other so closely.

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this means that in order to save Nana

the hassle and danger of being drugged

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for a tracker, the preserve had tagged

Nandy a much younger, healthier elephant.

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Instead.

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Now, why is the preserve so

concerned about Nana's whereabouts?

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Is it simply her venerable status?

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I can't say for sure, but

there is one thing I do know

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over an elephant's lifetime,

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They get three sets of giant molars

that they use to masticate their food.

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Once the last set of teeth has been

worn out, an elephant can no longer

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eat and dies based on her age.

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Nana is perilously close to having her

last set of teeth wear out As I sat

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in the Safari vehicle pondering this

and watching Nady nurse her baby, lo

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and behold, Nana appeared out of the

bush and walked straight towards us.

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I was so excited I didn't

even pull out my camera.

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All I wanted to do was absorb the moment.

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Can I just say that South

African elephants are huge.

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Even the pores of their skin are huge.

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And yes, I was close enough to see

them and being in the presence of

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this animal and knowing some of

her story, oh, it was powerful.

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So powerful that if I had my way Nana's

name would be changed to Nana Augustus.

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To Nana the majestic,

venerable, and greatly honored.

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Which leads us back to where

we find ourselves today.

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At the end of August, we

are in this spiral of life.

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It's going around and around

from month to month in a

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constant, predictable repetition,

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And we know that as we get

older, we spiral through the

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months faster and faster.

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Why did God design our seasons this way?

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Do you think it has a purpose?

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Is there something we are to

learn as we repeat this pattern?

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I think there is, and if that's the case,

what shall we do with this month of August

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when we come across it year after year?

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I don't know about you, but I am going

to erase Caesar Augustus from my calendar

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and replace him with Nana Augustus.

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the month of August, at least

in my mind, will now be named in

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honor of Nana Is there anyone in

your life worthy of this title?

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Have you taken the time

to ponder their story?

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As part of my ongoing spiral through

the seasons of life, I have decided I

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will make the month of August a time to

contemplate the lives of such Augustus

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beings, whether human or animal.

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And do my best to remember them,

honor them, and most importantly,

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apply the lessons of their lives

to my own in an effort to walk even

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timidly in their giant footprints.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

the time right now to share it with a

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friend, share it somewhere on social

media, or leave us a five star rating.

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And if you listen to Apple Podcast,

will you leave us a five star review?

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Your efforts will help this podcast make

a bigger impact in the world, and it will

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let us know that you like our show and it

will give us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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I love this quote from CS Lewis.

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The more we let God take us over,

the more truly ourselves we become.

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I don't know about you, but

I want to let God help me

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become a little more like Nana.

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Namaste.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

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