Africa Adventure - Elephants
“The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?”
Elephants are amazing animals. I’ve not always thought that though, I did appreciate they’re size and intelligence but could take them or leave them, that all changed in one encounter at a waterhole in Lumo Conservancy.
A group arrived at the waterhole to drink in the late morning heat, as they approached I could see the way they formed around the younger elephants protecting them in an impenetrable ring. The group began drinking and spraying muddy water on themselves in the shallow edge, with one youngster plunging straight in to the middle.
ABOVE The herd arrive at the waterhole.
ABOVE The herd drinking at the waterhole.
Watching the Elephants at the waterhole was fantastic, they youngest one was fully submerged at one point with just the trunk visible. The waterhole is artificial so they were perfectly safe from any waterborne predators like crocodiles.
Once they finished drinking they were making their way out of the waterhole when the smallest one got stuck below a banking, this is what amazed me about them, the adults all crowded round to help the little one get over the banking. I didn’t hear any communication between them all, perhaps it was low frequency belly sounds that they used, whatever it was I was amazed at how they worked together as a family unit.
ABOVE The youngster struggling to get over the bank then helped by all the adults.
Once the Elephants had rescued the youngster they disappeared over the horizon and we headed back to escape the heat of the midday but planned to return to the waterhole again in better light for sunset.
We came back after a nice lunch at the great Lions Bluff Lodge we were staying at before any Elephants had arrived but we didn’t have to wait long, another herd were on their way and these had been in an area of red sand that is so synonymous with Africa.
ABOVE Nothing says Africa better than a parade of Elephants covered in red mud.
ABOVE Even the youngsters were caked in red mud, accentuated by the low sun of late afternoon.
This herd didn’t drink for very long so we decided to move ahead of them to intercept them in good light, I took my jeep to shoot some backlit dusty elephants.
ABOVE A parade of Elephants silhouetted by the setting sun.
On our last day at Lumo we headed to Tsavo West in the hopes of finding some big tusker bull elephants, we found a couple of bulls that didn’t have magnificent tusks but were still impressive nonetheless.
We watched them for a while as they made their way off into the distance so we did the same in search of more.
ABOVE I’m fairly certain these are both bull Elephants!
ABOVE We found another herd on the plains heading towards us so we waited for them in a low spot.
This herd was heading straight for us so we parked in a depression to allow us to get a much lower angle of view, Elephants are powerful animals so shooting them low angle accentuates that power.
One of the youngsters in the herd was very intrigued by us, flaring his ears and mock charging us as he made his way by our vehicle.
ABOVE Small elephant syndrome from this youngster.
ABOVE Watching a herd advancing across the plains in a wide line was a real treat.
We found another big herd of almost 20 individuals coming across the plains towards a waterhole, it was amazing to watch them with the young elephants under the legs of the adults or sandwiched between two for protection. I can really understand the family dynamic of Elephants now that I have seen it, they are an amazing animal and should be protected at all costs.
There are many great charities and organisations that work to save Elephants, one I had the chance to visit on a different Kenya trip is the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where young wildborn orphaned Elephants are raised by their surrogate keepers and rehabilitated back into the wild. The keepers sleep with the Elephants at night to comfort them and keep the bond going, its an amazing organisation and well worth a visit if you are in Nairobi or you can make a donation or adopt a young Elephant to support these magnificent animals.
Next up in the Africa series is the magnificent Lion.
ABOVE A pair of wildborn orphans at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in 2013.