Great White Place

Greetings All,
We have finished the Mushara Elephant Expedition.  After two weeks at the waterhole Marc and I cataloged 53 bulls, 28 of them known visitors and 25 new individuals.  We also documented 6 breeding herds including several new herds to the area.  We put together a PowerPoint containing photos and identifying characteristics for each bull.

Marc Working on the PowerPoint

For example, Etosha has a big tear in his left ear and a heart shaped tail.

Etosha's ID Page

Jerry has extreme ear folding and sparse tail hair. 

Jerry's ID Page

By the end of two weeks we could refer to our PowerPoint and identify a bull that had previously visited the water hole.

The herds were much more difficult to document.  There are more individuals and when they're grouped together its difficult to single out individuals for identification.  There were however some very distinct individuals such as Wynonna and her calf Liza.  Wynonna has a "W"shaped cutout in her left ear and a missing left tusk. She is part of the Actors Herd.

Wynonna's ID page

Crumpled Ear is a member of the herd named after her.  She has a very obvious crumpled right ear which makes identifying her easy even at night when most of the herds visit the waterhole.

Crumpled Ear's ID Page

Marc compiled a video library of over 300 gigabytes of footage we took during our two week stay. Hopefully this will make it easier for Caitlin, the lead researcher, to find a particular event.

Marc videoing the Action at Mushara

After two weeks, we were not only getting to know the elephants, we were getting to know the lion pride that makes Mushara their home.  The dominant male who I called "Dark Mane", kept us awake many nights with his grunting roars while mating with one of the lionesses.

Keep Away from my Woman!

 The cubs would visit in the morning and "Bent Ear" would stare at me with an intensity beyond curiosity.

"Bent Ear"

On our last morning a very pregnant  "Bob Tail" paid us a visit.  With her missing tail she looks more like an overgrown bobcat than a lioness.

"Bob Tail" 

After the project, we spent 3 days exploring Etosha National Park on our own.  The park is dominated by the immense Etosha Pan visible from space!  In the language of the Ovambo tribe Etosha means "great white place".  This natural mineral pan was first formed over 100 million years ago. About 16,000 years ago, the Kunene River in Angola would have flowed all the way to Etosha, forming, a large and deep lake. But the river would later change its course due to tectonic plate movement and head for the Atlantic, causing the lake to slowly dry up and leaving the salt pan behind.

Peggy on the Pan

The first afternoon we visited one of the public waterholes.  To our surprise, a breeding herd of elephants came in.  We enjoyed watching them at close range.  As we were leaving another herd came down the road.  We backed up but could only go so far.  We watched with held breath as they drew closer and closer.  Marc didn't want to start the truck and startle them so we held our ground.  They passed within 20 feet of us!  My heart was beating wildly, that was close, a little too close.

Too Close for Comfort!

Our next herd encounter was the following day at a waterhole called Halali.  The waterhole is fenced and the viewing is from some rocks about 20 feet above the waterhole so we were completely safe.  It was fun watching the interactions and a young bull dust bathing or trying to.  He kept blowing the dust in his eyes instead of on his back.

Dust gets in your Eyes

Despite the drought, the animals appear to be doing well.  There is still ample food in the park and water is pumped to numerous waterholes.  How such massive creatures, elephants, rhino, eland and giraffe can sustain themselves on dried grass and leaves is beyond me. Some of our favorite photos from Etosha National Park follow.

A Large Eland Herd Drinks at Mushara 

 

"Blond Mane"

 

A Gang of Giraffe

 

Male Steenbok

 

Black Rhino

Spotted Hyena

We are now heading north to the Kunene River on the border with Angola.  We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc.

Part of the Herd

Greetings All,
A few days ago we got to view an elephant herd from the bunker.  The bunker is a concrete structure built into the ground 20 meters away from the waterhole.  There is a slit in the front through which you can view and photograph animals that come to the waterhole.

Marc Photographing Elephants from the Bunker  

It's an amazing experience to watch an elephant herd approach from ground level.

Slit Ear's Herd Approaches

The herd that came in is known as Slit Ear's Herd, named after the matriarch that has a large slit in her left ear.  The herd is made up of around 24 individuals.  Herd composition is broken down by size and age.  There are 4 full grown females, aged somewhere between 15 and 45 years, five 3/4-sized individuals aged between 10 and 15 years, six 1/2-sized individuals between the age of 3 and 10 years, seven 1/4-sized individuals from 1 to 3 years old and 3 babies less than 1 year old in the herd.  They stopped at the trough to quench their thirst.

The Herd Drinks from the Trough

Elephants drink a lot of water, about 225 liters per day!  Then can suck up to 9 liters in their trucks at a time and squirt it into their mouths.  We aren't seeing the same herds at the waterhole everyday but they seem to show up every 2 to 3 days.  Once their thirst was quenched, they turned their attention to us.  One inquisitive member of the herd stuck his trunk down into the hatch of the bunker through which we entered.

Trunk in the bunker!

 

Another curious fellow peered at us through the hatch.

 

I See You!



We were quite safe in the bunker and could enjoy being part of the herd.  Slit Ear kept a watchful eye on us.

Slit Ear Keeps an Eye on Us

The youngsters approached the bunker trying to figure out who these strangers among the herd were.

Come out, Come out Whoever you Are!

A teeny baby just weeks old was tucked safely under mom's belly.

Elephant Calf

 

Typically a single calf is born every 4 years after a nearly 2 year gestation.  They are cared for by their mothers and other young females in the herd called allomothers.  Babies wean after 6 to 18 months but may nurse up to 6 years.

 

Slit Ear and her Calf 

Gazing into the eye of an elephant, you get a sense of how intelligent they are.  I wondered what she was thinking.  It's hard to believe that elephants are poached for their ivory.  When I think that this mother who so lovingly cares for her baby and is a member of a family can be killed just so someone can have a trinket made out of ivory, it's makes me angry.  When will human compassion and willingness to share this planet with other beings outweigh our greed and self importance?   

Eye of an Elephant

After about 45 minutes the herd disappeared back into the bush.  Two male Springbok were seriously sparring.  One was actually lifted off the ground by the other and landed on the ground with his leg caught in the victor's horns!

Springbok Males Sparring
 

It was time to return to camp before more elephants showed up at the waterhole.  We'll see what secrets the elephants will reveal in the days ahead.

We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc

May 22, 2012: Lunch with Elephants, Love in the Bush & Hyena Hijinks

Hi All,
As promised here are some more tails and tales from Kruger National Park. On Friday we stopped off at a hide for lunch. A hide is an enclosed, usually raised platform overlooking a waterhole where you can safely sit and watch animals and birds. On the way to the hide we had to sneak past some elephants that were crossing the road. Turns out they were on their way to the waterhole for a drink. There was this little guy that ended up in the waterhole trunk first (photo 1).

He panicked when he couldn't climb out a let out a trumpet which agitated the rest of the herd. Fortunately, Mom was there to lend a helping truck and pushed the little guy to safety (photo 2).

That night we stayed at a camp called Shingwedzi. We decided to go on a night drive and heard lions roaring as we were getting ready to leave. I was hoping to run into them but, we were disappointed. As it turns out we decided to spend a 5th night in the Park which meant we had to pass by Shingwedzi Camp again on Sunday morning. As we approached there was a male and female lion on the road! They headed off into the grass to mate (photo 3 edited version). We were very lucky to have gotten a second change to see them.

We did go on another night drive from another camp called Punda Maria. We had better luck on this one. We ran into a female leopard and her two cubs! Marc managed to get a photo as she crossed the road (photo 4).

On our last game drive in Kruger we came across a Hyena den. There were 3 older pups and 1 young pup most likely from another litter playing around with each other. As we drove up they turned their attention to us. They circled the car and one put his front legs on the bumper and peered over the hood. Another inquisitive guy approached my open window and I thought he was going to jump in. When I went to close the window the car motor was off and these were power windows. A second vehicle pulled up and the hyena pups went off to check it out (photo 5).

One cheeky fellow ended up pulling a cap off from the back of the vehicle (photo 6).

I heard the driver exclaim "why you little b______d!" I could have watched them all morning but we had a long drive back to Pretoria. After spending the night with a friend, we are back in Joburg. Tomorrow we head to Mozambique for 4 nights. It's hard to believe our trip is nearing the end.

We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc