This large Elephant bull enjoys the cool water on a hot summer day.
Cooling systems!
Most mammals can use their sweat glands to cool themselves down. Elephants cannot sweat so they have to use other means to cool down. They pump huge amounts of blood through their ears (which represent 20% of their body surface) while waving the ears – as one means of cooling. They also try to use shade wherever possible and take extended baths on hot days. But one of the most effective ways of lowering their body temperature is to take a mud bath. The drying mud draws a lot of heat from the body and cools them down very effectively.
On yesterday’s evening game drive I took this picture of one of the largest Thanda bulls after he had a thorough mud bath.
The second picture is of a “family bath” a few month ago.
The Elephants’ choice
One should never push Elephants and move in too close to them.
But sometimes they choose to come close themselves. This female Elephant and the two calves where browsing on trees right next to our Land Rover before moving on to follow the herd.
My guests loved this close encounter!
PS: For the photographers among you: To get the effect with both “the Elephants” and “me in the mirror” in focus I overlaid two images with different focus (post-processing).
Sparring!
While I was filing images which I have taken over the last few weeks I came across this picture of an Elephant Bull fight.
I remember that we were quite close to these two young bulls when they started sparring. Ignoring us completely they impressed the Thanda guests on my vehicle with their strength and fighting skills.
Shaken by Elephants!
This young Elephant bull was testing the strength of my Land Rover and of Bheki’s tracker seat. After a slight shake to the car he decided that this was a “strong thing” and he moved off quietly and continued feeding.
… and this is one of the reasons why our trackers do not stay in their seat when we are viewing Elephants 🙂
When his little sister (she is only a few weeks old) was crossing the road she was giving us a good “Elephant head shake of displeasure” before quickly joining her mother on the other side of the road.
The Elephant moms just watched the displays tolerantly without any signs of agitation.
The Thanda guests enjoyed the “Shaken by Elephant” experiences.
Mature and Teens!
From this angle the difference between a mature (40-45 year old) Elephant bull and a young bull in his teens becomes clear. Two of Thanda’s magnificent Elephants presented themselves during one of today’s game drive.
Crossing the Savanna
Thanda’s breeding herd of Elephant was crossing the savanna to get to a waterhole to drink and bath. These are a few black and white images I took at this beautiful sighting.
Up the Mountain!
We tracked our Elephant herd for a long time when we spotted them going up a mountain. It is amazing how these huge creatures can move up a hill.
On the same game drive we found our four Lion cubs resting in a road after playing hard.
And on the way back to the lodge we had a good look at one of my favorite antelopes – female Nyalas.
Another hard day in Africa 🙂
The Big Five in One Drive!
After two weeks of rain, wind and cold we had some great drives in the last few days.
During the bad weather it was very difficult to find animals. They all were hiding in the thick bush from heavy rains, very strong winds and many thunderstorms.
But this morning we got rewarded for our hard work and patience. When we left the lodge we spotted a Leopard just as we left (he did not stick around, but we got a good look). Then we met our dominate male Lion on to of a hill. We tracked our Buffalo herd and just as we left them we saw two White Rhinos (mother and daughter) in an open area. Before we headed back to the lodge we went to the area where we saw the breeding herd of Elephants last. We did not find them but we found one of our oldest Elephant bulls. After observing him for a while we turned back to the lodge.
We also saw Giraffe, Zebra, Impala, Nyala, Kudu, Waterbuck and Wildebeest.
It seemed that all the animals wanted to make an appearance after the long absence from the Safari stage 🙂
PS: All pictures above were taken today!
Bull Fight!
Today we had a very nice sighting of our breeding herd of Elephants. They were walking up a hill in front of us. I took these pictures of two young bulls at the end of the herd having a bit of a fight (sparring would be a better word).
Have a good week 🙂
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 