Elephant bull serenades in the New Year: Video
Published by Wildcaster 2 years ago Tags: africa, animal kingdom, blogumentary, cites, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered species, flickr, GLTP, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, IUCN Red List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photos, podcasting, polls, rain, teach, video, wildcasting, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe.
What a tough morning chasing after the wild dogs. They took us through some terrible bush country before killing a baby impala.
Then back on the hunt again they continued to try and shake me off. That’s what it felt like. Catching a male impala, things settled down while they fed. But then somehow the pack split up and for the next hour they were moving in all directions trying to locate the others. This didn’t impress me but I just had to stay with them, as you never know what could happen while they’re on the move.
Without much song and dance they all met up again and passed out at the same pan as yesterday.
That was them out of action. I left to look for the breeding herd of elephant and search high and low I was out of luck.
Eventually in the heat of the day, I found a shady tree next to Lojaan to chill out under. A short while later an elephant bull, feeling the heat himself took the plunge in the dam. Like a whale he floundered around seeming to be diving and pegging his tusks into the mud with his backside well exposed to the world. With no worries on the world he was truly enjoying his swim.
I was only too keen to join in but on the way back to camp I got my cool down as the heavens opened and the rains came and came and came.
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Who would have thought that those giant animals could move so gracefully. My first thought when seeing him moving thru the water was…..”It’s a water ballet”! It had to be great fun to sit and watch him. How long did he swim like that?
Paula
It’s so much fun to see the adults diving in the water and playing just like the babies. I love watching the ellies. Thank You, I look forward to your video’s each night.
Yes it looks so cool in the water Kim.
What has the bush got waiting for you on your birthday of 05 January?
Your videos are the highlight of my new day. Happy New Year! I have sent your site to dozens of people, so I hope we don’t blow it out. I got to this site via a fellow elephant lover, and know that the eles (with probably every other animal except humans) have very acute senses of hearing, and smell. They MUST know you are there. Do you just become a normal part of the landscape for them? They do not appear to be bothered at all. Rgds, Cynthia Pierson
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND ALL THE BUSH INHABITANTS!!!
Hi Paula. The bull was in the water for about 15minutes just taking his time and really enjoying himself. I’m sure if he had some good music he’d have stayed for longer.
Hi Cynthia. The elephant are totally aware of my presence just about all the time. And as you’ll see in todays photos they come up really close to the vehicle. they have come to accept us totally. Amazing stuff. These must be the most chilled out breeding herd of elephants in Africa. So wonderful working with such intelligent animals.
Hi Geoff. Yeah only you would know!!!! Bush better produce piles of action!
Happy New Year to you all.
Cheers
Kim
Oh, how wonderful, What fun! If only all the poor captive Elephants could enjoy such a glorious time. Thanks so much for that.
What an amazing video!! The grace and beauty of this animal in his native habitat is breath-taking. It certainly is more awe-inspiring than seeing an elephant in a small, cement enclosure, or doing tricks in a circus. Thank you so much for sharing it!!
And the elephant calves love the water and mud even more than the adults. They’re just like our kids going wild in water.