Watching Elephants in Africa

One good thing about the Covid-19 lockdown has been the time it gave me to reflect on past trips.  I have been enjoying my travel memories and this weekend reread my diary of the memorable month long safari I took through Namibia, Botswana and Zambia a few years ago. Highlights were seeing the  "Big 5", apparently not everyone does, and watching the animals in their own environment.  I don't have a favourite animal, they were all fascinating, although I must say the ones I liked the least were the African wild dogs, they were bone chillingly scary.

The African Wild Dog - they hunt in packs and can tear a lion apart.  A very scary, intimidating animal.

One animal I found entertaining and enthralling was the elephant. Elephants are very family orientated living in matriarchal herds which consist of a senior female, her daughters and their off spring.  Bull elephants leave the family unit when they are about 12 years old and either live a solitary life or form a group with other bull elephants, joining family groups occasionally for mating purposes only.

My favourite place to watch elephants was at the water holes when large family units would come to drink, wash and play. One evening in Namibia as we sat in our truck watching some giraffes we spotted a herd of elephants, 21 in total, coming through some trees in the distance towards the nearby waterhole.  They started to run  the closer they got to the water and then proceeded to wallow happily, spraying themselves, drinking the water and generally having a great time.  The tiny baby elephants, not quite sure how to use their trunks, buried their faces in the water to drink.  The older females were very protective of the babies, bathing them and keeping them away from the adolescent males who were yahooing, frolicking and generally making nuisances of themselves.  Sound familiar? Eventually the adults headed off into the bush with their babies in tow while the adolescents continued sky larking and fooling around until they suddenly realised the adults had gone.  They leapt out of the pool, trumpeting and flapping their ears, running at full pelt to catch the herd.  It was thoroughly entertaining.  You could just imagine them calling "Hey, wait for me"

On another occasion, in Botswana, we come across a herd of 25 elephants of all ages at a waterhole.  There was one tiny baby which kept slipping and sliding in the mud, frantically slapping the water with its trunk.  The older females grouped together and worked as a team to get the baby out.  It was a true collaboration. Meanwhile 3 huge bull elephants got into a competitive tussle nearby.  They were all keen to mate with the herd and the winner would be the lucky one. It was intimidating stuff seeing them challenge and threaten each other, attempting to wound with their tusks.  You could feel the ground shake as they charged. Eventually two realised it was a fight they couldn't win so slunk away leaving a very proud dominant male with the herd.

Male elephants test and build up their strength for fighting by attacking and uprooting  trees.  It is not uncommon to see areas of bush badly damaged by elephants. 

One evening, in a mad dash to see a group of African wild dogs we had heard about, we come across a herd of literally hundreds of elephants.  It was an incredible sight.  The red dust they kicked up swirling against the late afternoon sun as they passed by is a scene I will never forget. We hear about elephants being endangered but this particular herd was massive by any standard. I couldn't get decent photos due to facing the sun and the thick dust they kicked up.

Dominant male takes over the pool. 
He looks two toned but it is just the waterline

Dominant male elephants like things there own way and they get it. One afternoon  when we were cruising on the Chobe River in Botswana we saw some elephants washing on the water's edge. They were quite happy until a huge male came along. He bellowed and the other elephants took off leaving him to bathe and slosh around contentedly in the pool all by himself.

This photo below is one of my favourite travel photos. We were all resting in camp after a busy morning on safari when an elephant wandered into our camp. Shivers of fear and delight ran up our spines in equal measure but the elephant just casually sauntered through our camp uprooting grass and stuffing it in his mouth. Our guide told us that elephants have very poor eyesight and because we were downwind of him he couldn't smell us. Eventually he continued on his merry way.

My trip to Africa was hard, challenging and physical. We were camping in game parks with hyenas wandering around our tents at night and lions roaring not too far away, we were hot, dirty, and tired but it was absolutely unforgettable.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It has been a pleasure reliving the experience.