Although Elephant look a bit thick skinned, they need to undertake a daily skincare routine to prevent any parasites and flies from biting them. Rolling around and plastering themselves with mud is one way, dusting themselves with nice cool sand, another. This also serves as a coolant during hot summer days.

Elephants will gather around a shady spot where the sand is not as hot and dig into the soil to get to the even cooler sand to dust their bodies.

They just simply suck up a load of sand into their trunks and spray it where it is needed. Surely, a great way for keeping cool when water isn’t that close by…

Rough like sandpaper, a Lions’ tongue is a very useful tool and they use it for grooming, drinking and just plain affection. Like all cats, Lions lick themselves to get clean. Licking each other also serves to strengthen bonds between members of the pride.

The surface is covered by tiny spines that get exposed as the tongue is bent in different directions. This helps to separate meat from bone and to get rid of pesky parasites lurking in their fur.

Females will also lick their newborn cubs after they drank to stimulate their digestive system. This also serves as bonding between mother and cubs.

Despite their size, Elephant can often disappear for days, melting into the bush. But when they make their re-appearance they make sure they do it properly. This herd came out of the Mopani woodland.

What seemed to be just a small group, turned into out to be several animals. They decided that this pan at the south eastern corner of Banyini plain was a great meeting place and their numbers just kept increasing as more and more Elephant came out of the woodland. What a spectacular scene. One we surely don’t get to see everyday.