Ranger Diary
Hippos and Elephants
Archives
- Surprise flamingos
- A long death
- Tumi and family
- The brave caracal
- Of leopards & elephants
- The western kill
- The draw (lions)
- Search for lions
- Pilanesberg night drive
- The big ones
- Hippos and Elephants
- Hippo Carcass
- My amazing game drive
- Lion hunting zebra
- The one that got away
- Lion hunt
- The brown hyena
- Rare carnivores
- Bird watching
We leave on a chilly afternoon game drive in search of some Kodak moments. The sun sets and the orange and red sky create a beautiful background for taking some award winning photographs. We arrive at Lengau dam and lo and behold... there are about 40 elephants drinking water!! We cannot believe our luck! Like some paparazzi we start clicking away with our cameras. On the one side we see the teenagers playing in the water and rolling in the mud. On the other side is the matriarch watching over her young baby (who cannot use his trunk yet) to prevent him from falling into the water. We are amazed at the scene.
But wait, nearby some hippos are stirring, getting ready to emerge from the water to go off feeding. But the elephants are in their way and the dominant hippo bull is not very happy. The hippo starts to show off his pearly whites but the elephants do not even notice! The hippo gets agitated and with immense speed the bull charges out of the water and chases off the elephants!
With all peace disturbed, the elephants split up in two breeding herds and move in different directions. With a feeling of disappointment at our beautiful moment being destroyed by this egotistical creature, we get ready to move on. As we pull away we notice that the one herd is making its way towards the road. We decide to wait for the elephants and park on a viewpoint.
We notice that the matriarch is now somewhat agitated and with some speed she leads her group towards the road. Two teenage bulls however lag behind and continue to play around sparring and showing off their strength to each other by breaking trees. Whilst intrigued by the two bulls, the matriarch decides that we are now in her way and she wants to cross over the road where we are comfortably parked. She starts shaking her head at us and gives two steps forward. We decide that this might be our cue to move. She gives one very loud trumpet call to the two lagging bulls as if to say, 'come now, or else!' and within minutes the whole herd moves off into the thickets.
We leave the scene with great excitement at what we have just witnessed and realise just how special these gentle giants actually are.
Alisha Ellis
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