Elephants!

I Spy With My Little Eye…

Katherine McClain

We pounded through the dry Hoanib river bed in Anabeb, our hearts heavy knowing that this would be another failed attempt, but we pushed on. Vehi was confident that today would be the day. We passed by a herd of ostrich, now running alongside the car. We also passed by some springbok and Oryx, not exactly what we were trying to find. We continued on, our eyes glued on any sort of movement in the bushes. I had serious doubt that we would see anything at all.

Vehi stopped the car and pointed straight ahead. About fifty meters away behind a large bush were three large grey bums. We had finally found them! We drove around to a different angle and stopped the car. There stood six elephants only twenty-five meters away from us! I looked to Lisa who sat next to me, a huge grin spread across her face. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I stared out the window. This was our first elephant sighting since we have arrived here just about one month ago.

The magnificent beasts were just munching on the Acacia erioloba they stood under. One of the bulls used his trunk to reach up to a branch just above him. One gentle tug and the large branched snapped. Victory! The branch was down and he continued to munch. One female watched us carefully as we stopped to stare and take pictures. Not far behind her were two young elephants unaware that we were even close by. There was one other bull and two other females around the back of the tree, all too busy to be worried about the crowd that had gathered to watch in amazement. After a month of hoping and mistaking cows, rocks, and tuffs of grass for elephants, it was all worth the wait of the elephants standing before us.

Just the next day we were headed to our new destination in the Hoanib River in Sesfontein. As we rounded the corner we came head to head with an elephant bull. He slowly walked to underneath a Faidherbia albida tree as we stopped to stare. It was too good to be true! Just in two days we had two elephant sightings! Later in the evening as we sat around the fire for dinner, we watched as a dark figure passed by our camp and headed straight for an Ana tree. It was a male elephant! He slowly approached the tree took a quick glance at it then walked a little further up, stopped and leaned his huge body against the tree. He slowly began to move his back side to side against the tree. He was scratching himself! I stared in complete wonder as he continued. The noise of his rough skin against the bark was like sandpaper. After he was satisfied he continued on his way. We stood only forty meters from him. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I was in complete shock. I had just watched an elephant scratch himself! I quickly snapped out of my daze as we heard a sharp cry ring out in the direction the bull had originally come from. I quickly asked Bekah what the alien noise was. She told me it was an elephant. How could that be? The noise was so strange it sounded nothing like an elephant. Her answer was confirmed just moments later when we watched two dark shadows moving in front of a bush just a few meters away. It was more elephants! An adult female and her baby quickly walked by our campsite. The baby picked up the pace to catch up to momma and stayed tightly against her side. They followed the path the Bull had made and soon enough they caught up to him.

Just two days before these encounters we had given up hope at seeing any elephants. Time and time again we had been unsuccessful elephant tracking. We constantly found fresh tracks and poop but never the culprit responsible. Now we have had three days where we have encountered elephants! It just goes to show you that the ultimate game of I spy is never over. Always be on your guard for whatever may come across your path.