Searching for Elephants

Our group had been in Gorongosa Park for a couple days.  The game drives were great.  We had seen all kinds of beautiful birds and all sorts of antelopes.  However, we really wanted to see something larger.  Much larger.  Like elephants!  Earlier in the day several people in our group had seen two elephants walk across the airfield.  So when our guide asked us what we wanted to see, we all agreed it was elephants.

Elephants are quite large, right?  Who would think that they can be hard to find?  Well, we learned that you have to search for them.  They aren’t simply standing out in the open.  Elephants can be well hidden by the vegetation.  On top of that, Gorongosa elephants are not particularly happy to see humans.

During the civil war in Mozambique, many of Gorongosa’s elephants were killed by humans.  The older ones remember this.  When the park first reopened, elephants would charge people in their vehicles.  As time has passed, these attacks have become less frequent, but they still happen.  Every one of our guides had a story about an elephant overturning his vehicle or a similar story.  Park employees know to be cautious and quiet around these huge animals.

Our guide drove off across the airstrip to find the two elephants that people had spotted earlier.  Within five minutes we found them—two males.  We were so excited but we were reminded to remain quiet.  All of us were snapping photos like crazy.  After a few shots my camera’s battery went dead, followed shortly by the little digital camera my husband was using. While we madly changed batteries, the two elephants moved around behind our vehicle.  The younger one made a big display, trumpeted, and then they moved on.  Yeah, I missed that shot, although realistically I was in the wrong place in the vehicle.  Afterwards our guide explained that he was not terribly concerned with young males showing off.  Females with babies are another matter—you don’t want to mess with them.

As we searched for elephants, our guides explained how to track them.  They showed us their footprints and pointed out how their hind footprints crossed over on the prints of the front feet.  You can tell how tall they are by measuring the circumference of the footprint.  Double that number and you have the approximate height of the elephant.  And then there is the elephant dung—it is hard to miss.  Elephants are constantly eating and they leave a lot of dung behind.  Their digestive systems are incredibly inefficient; about 60% of what they eat simply passes straight through them.  This is why their dung does not have an odor.  It provides food for other animals.  One of the reasons that many zoos are unable to keep elephants is because of the huge amount of dung they produce.  What do you do with it?

Our next elephant sighting was the following day—a glimpse of one male.  We had to wait two more days before spotting any more elephants.  I yearned to see some females and young ones so I was delighted when we came across a group of seven elephants—two adult females and five young ones of varying ages.  They were a bit shy at first.  Note the photo with all the behinds.  Gradually we were allowed to see their faces and observe them eating.  I did notice that the matriarch kept her eye on us.  A few hours later we saw two more males.  They were very much aware of us but were too busy eating to pay much attention.  Later that night, we had another elephant encounter.  We were heading back to camp after dark.  We could hear the elephants and see the bushes moving and those in front actually got a glimpse of them.  They were crossing the road and heading toward the river.  Most likely they crossed the river to the village beyond.  Unfortunately, elephants do a lot of damage to the villagers’ crops.  It is one of the issues that park authorities must deal with to maintain good relations with the people who live around the park.  The next morning we encountered a very animated male.  I wondered if he was thinking of charging us, but then he turned and ran off.

 

The last elephant we spotted in Gorongosa was a baby.  It was our last night there and we were driving back to camp as the sky darkened.  We did not stop to look at it but kept on moving.  One of the guides explained that it wasn’t safe because we didn’t know where the mother was.  I didn’t get a photo but the image of this beautiful baby is imprinted in my memory.  It was such a privilege to see these large beautiful animals in their natural environment.