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

Greetings from Namibia

Greetings All,

We have embarked on our next adventure in Namibia in southwest Africa.  After a 14+ hour flight across the pond, we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa.  We had a tight connection and made it to the gate as our flight to Windhoek, Namibia was boarding.  Our work visas finally arrived via email but we had already boarded the flight to Johannesburg and could not print them out.  We decided to enter Namibia as tourists and deal with our work visas later.  We made it through passport control OK although, the officer did ask what we were going to do in Namibia for 9 weeks.  I replied that we were retired and had more time to travel.

After a good night's sleep, we were ready for the four hour drive to the Kalahari.  We rented a Ford Ranger 4x4 with manual transmission.  With two spare tires in the back, a full tank of diesel, and a cell phone we were ready for our journey south.  The hardest part was backing out of the Guest House driveway. Our first destination was the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch.  As we pulled into reception we were greeted by an Oryx seeking shade in the carpark and Skanky, a female Springbok. Skanky was sporting a pair of stylish horn guards to prevent her from stabbing the tourists.

 

We went on a game drive in the afternoon and spotted more Oryx, Springbok, Greater Kudu, Plains Zebra and Blue Wilderbeest.

 

Back at the lodge it was time to feed the Cheetahs.  There are three resident male Cheetahs.  They were actually given to the Game Ranch by the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the organization we will be volunteering at the month of June.  All three Cheetahs were orphaned and have been at the Game Ranch for 8 years.  Springbok was on the menu for the evening and the boys chased us after our land rover had entered their enclosure (we were still in the vehicle).  Stephanus threw each cheetah a hunk of springbok which they grabbed and rushed off to eat in peace.

 

We left the Game Ranch around 9:30 this morning to continue our drive south.  Our final destination is Fish River Canyon Lodge.  After the Grand Canyon, the Fish River Canyon is the largest canyon in the world.  The Lodge is perched on the rim of the canyon with spectacular views.

The climate here is arid and not much grows except for clumps of milk bush, a type of euphorbia with poisonous milky latex and bizarre looking quiver trees.  The Quiver Trees can grow up to 300 years old and can store water in their fibrous trunks.  They are called Quiver Trees because the Bushman use the branches to make quivers to carry their arrows.

 

Tomorrow we start a 4-day hike to the bottom of the canyon and along the Fish River.  Unfortunately, Namibia is experiencing a drought.  The rains did not materialize this year.  The Fish River is drying up which is not good for the wildlife.  We'll get a close look tomorrow.

Happy Memorial Day.

Peggy and Marc