He was known as ‘The Elephant Whisperer’ and took it in his stride to nurture these huge intelligent animals. He began treating them like children, using words and gestures to let them know they were safe with him.

He focused on the matriarch, since elephant herds are always headed up by one, this was a good way to connect with the rest of the elephants.

He connected very well with one Matriarch called Nana, she and the herd grew very fond of Lawrence and his wife, they would even spend time in their house.

After years of great conservation work as well as building strong bonds with the local elephant herds and other animals, Lawrence, unfortunately, passed away.

Upon his passing, Nana led two elephant herds on a 12-hour journey to Lawrence’s house to pay their respects. They remained outside of the house for two full days as they stood vigil before returning to their lives.

“They had not visited the house for a year-and-a-half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey.”

What’s even more amazing is that nobody told the herds about his death, they just knew.

But that wasn’t the end of it, as every year, on the 2nd of March, they make the same journey and pay their respects to their fallen comrade.