Sometimes on safari, the vehicle is stopped to watch a small group of elephants, and quite suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of a rather large herd, with elephants to all sides of the vehicle as they make their way through the bush. I feel incredibly blessed as this has happened to me numerous times while out on game drives. For some people, the situation can feel a bit intimidating, but I always trust that my guide is reading the situation correctly, and has an exit strategy prepared in case things get dicey.
Thankfully, we’ve never had to use one of those, and instead can enjoy elephants as far as the eye can see.
I hope you enjoy my selections for today, and wishing you a wonderful week ahead.
Part of a breeding herd of elephants that were moving back into the bushes after being down at the river for a drink. All of the dust in the air had been kicked up by others elephants passing by. We had thick bush to both sides, so we just sat and waited until this group moved off the road before carrying on our way. Tinga Lodge, May 2019.This is the closest I have ever seen to the cute drawings of baby elephants hanging on to Mom’s tail. This was just a fortunate flick of Mom’s tail and the baby moving its trunk at the right time. These two were part of a massive herd that we spent time with at Kings Camp in the Timbavati.A few more elephants from the large herd at Kings Camp. We saw this group a couple times during our stay, but because the ground is fairly flat with short, bushy trees, there was no way to really capture the scope of the herd. Groups of a half dozen or so was all I could accomplish. There were so many little babies in this group, it was heartwarming to see such a baby boom.The fading late afternoon light wasn’t great for photography, but sitting with this herd while on a game drive from Chitwa Chitwa was a lot of fun. We had a couple of safari newbies on our vehicle, and their reaction to how close the elephants came to us while grazing was great. Lots of gasps and excited whispers from the back of the vehicle!Another situation where there were elephants in all directions, but only opportunities to capture a few individuals at a time. But this adorable baby! Just look at that face!
