The Believer

Whenever we interact with a Yellow-billed Hornbill it is always with much mirth and merriment. They are such cool characters, in opposition to their cousins the Red-billed Hornbill who was popularised by the Disney movie “The Lion King” as the mentor to Simba called Zazu, who can be quite a grumpy bird at times.

This story is from the Zulu people...

One day when the air was hot and the land was dry, Hornbill was out searching for a meal.

Hornbill was ever an optimist and believed that soon the rains would come back. It was not so with many of the other animals that Hornbill knew.

During his search for food this day, Hornbill spied many of his friends, all of which hung their heads in despair at the long lasting drought. They had not noticed the change in the skies and so Hornbill took it upon them to awaken them.

One by one, Hornbill flew to each of his friends. He perched on their backs and sang to them with his raucous little voice so full of laughter and mischief. And one by one, all his friends slowly lifted their heads. They looked to the sky and Lo! There on the horizon sat clouds, fat with rain.

To the amazement of all, the clouds advanced, until they were above the heads of all. With a mighty clap, the heavens opened and all rejoiced. But none louder than Hornbill, who not for one second doubted in his belief that rain would come and tomorrow would be a better day.

The Zulu people call the Yellow-billed Hornbill “Umkolwana”. This name came about because over the many years the Zulu people observed this little fellow and noticed that never did his beak droop ground wards, even in the harshest situations. He always had the bill up, proud and awake waiting for the better days to come. The Zulu word for “I believe” is “Ngiakolwa” and “Umkolwana” is “Little believer”, the Hornbill has always been a symbol of faith and belief, due to his constant skyward glance, and so this name stuck with him.