Wildcast

Mandlovu overdosed herself on Marulas.
Mandlovu had taken her herd way up to the northern end of the property and Snorkel had accompanied. He was with them for most of the morning but then disappeared.

In the late morning Mandlovu took her herd from marula tree to marula tree eating the fallen fruits. Eventually the calves had had enough and were back onto normal food.

But it seems like Mandlovu is an addict. She kept eating and by late afternoon those fruits were now highly active. Mandlovu had really bad diarrhoea, which the other family members were quick to follow up and eat. Presumably they were enjoying the partly fermented fruits that are hardly digested when they pass through an elephant. (Some sort of instant cream liqueur?)

Then I noticed Mandlovu lying down in the middle of nowhere. She got up, walked around for a few minutes and lay down again, even with me in close proximity. This she did several times and then lay down for over half an hour with me parked less than 20m away. She obviously trusted me, but this strange behaviour meant she must have been in a lot of discomfort.

And poor little Chipfongwe, not having even eaten any marulas, was now also paying the price with his mother’s milk probably having been tainted by the marulas.

Even in all her discomfort, Mandlovu was up in a hurry when something spooked them and they took off.