Our resident herd consists of our adult and adolescent female elephants and the youngsters. They are all guided through their daily activities by matriarch Sally who was the first elephant to arrive at the Park in 1994. Visitors to the Park are privileged to interact with this herd during the day, gaining unique insight into how elephants eat, play and socialise. Each elephant holds a special place in the herd, depending on their age and social standing. This matriarchal herd structure is unique to KEP – not many other facilities in South Africa have a group that is similar to the herd structure seen in wild elephant herds and includes matriarchs, mothers and daughters, allo-mothers and adolescent young males finding their feet! Our facility also offers the ability to give our older bulls more space, away from the matriarchal herd. In the wild, at a certain age, elephant bulls are kicked out of the breeding herd by the dominant female. These young males join up to form small ‘bachelor herds’. At KEP we try to emulate that natural progression by managing the males separately; and not forcing them to remain part of the herd where they would be dominated and uncomfortable.