The events of The Elephant Whisperer take place on the Thula Thula game reserve, owned by Lawrence Anthony, which is situated in Zululand, a part of the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Anthony’s conservation efforts and work on the reserve are impacted by the history, culture, and customs of the area, necessitating an understanding of the area’s historical context.

The Zulu were Nguni-speaking people, originally settled near the White Umfolozi river. The legendary Zulu warrior-king, Shaka, famed for his military strategies, conquered the different Zulu groups and consolidated them into a single, powerful Zulu nation in the 19th century. Thula Thula is an important piece of Zulu history, as along with being the oldest private wildlife reserve in the province, it is also the former hunting ground of this legendary king.

The Zulu nation was influential throughout southern and central Africa until clashes began with the Westerners, first with the Afrikaner Boers in 1838 and later with the arrival of the British Empire in the late 19th century. Although the Zulus claimed initial victories in the Anglo-Zulu war, they were eventually defeated and annexed into Natal in 1897 by the British. The early 1900s saw land commission partitioning, which took away two thirds of Zulu land, including the most fertile portions.