Career
She lived in and explored the game reserves Ndumu and Mkuzi for about 20 years, where she became inspired by the flora of the region. She collected plants, painted them, wrote about them, and gardened with them. Her work has been exhibited throughout South Africa which has led to commissions, both local and abroad.
Her paintings have appeared in the series Flowering Plants of Africa and her limited edition portfolio "Palms of Africa" (1988) has been sold worldwide.
She was commissioned to do paintings for the Blue Train in 1999. Pooley has lived at Clansthal on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast since 1984, and spends her time painting, writing and conducting painting tours of KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho.
Elsa Pooley was married to Tony Pooley (1938-2004), a game ranger and renowned authority on crocodiles. She had three sons from the marriage - Simon, Justin and Thomas.
Pooley, A.C. (before Christ), East.S. Pooley, Wayne F. Hadley and Carl Gans (1973) Ecological aspects of the subsoil herpetofauna in Ndumu Game Reserve.
Annals of Carnegie Museum volunteer 44 Article 8. Anderson J.L. and East.S. Pooley (1977) "Some plants identified in the rumina of Nyala antelope Tragelaphus angasi in Ndumu Game Reserve". Lammergeyer, Journal of Natal Parks Board, 23:40-45.
De Moor, Parish Priest, East.S. Pooley, G. Neville and J. Barichievy (1977) "Vegetation of Ndumu Game Reserve, Natal.
A Quantitative Physiognomic Survey". Annals Natal Museum. 23(1): 239-272 Pooley, East. South. (1978).
"A checklist of the plants of Ndumu Game Reserve, North-eastern Zululand". JS African. Botany 44 (1): 1–54.
(1980) "A report on a study of Smilax kraussiana in the Street Lucia Resort Game Park".
Internal report,Natal Parks Board. (1980) "Some notes on the utilization of natural resources by the tribal people of Maputaland". Indiana Studies on the Ecology of Maputaland, edited by M.N. Bruton & K.GH. Cooper, Wildlife Society of Société Anonyme pp 467–479 Veld and Flora, magazine of the Botanical Society of Société Anonyme. Smedley, Linda North.
Ribeiro-Torres, J. L. (1979).
Manitoba and the Pongolo Floodplain. A Preliminary Study. The Council.
