The next generation
Whilst I was leading a group on a canoe and walking safari in one of the most pristine wilderness areas in Africa we came across one of the most moving and special sights I’ve ever witnesses in the bush.
After leaving the shady canopy of some Rain Trees where we lunched and rested through the midday sun we started to hear trumpeting and roaring from down stream. It was elephants. They really can make the most terrific noises. Noises that you may associate rather with some sort of prehistoric predator.
On getting around a bend in the river we saw a large herd of elephant crowded on the right bank on a bit of exposed flood plain. We kept our distance as they were clearly stressed, their temporal glands streaming.
After awhile waiting (with everyone on strict instructions not to make any noise) the herd moved away and crossed the river to the far bank. The river is generally very shallow and quite narrow. So it was a very easy wade for the larger females but came up to the flanks of some of the younger ones.One female was left alone. She had huge streams coming down her cheeks almost into her mouth. None of the elephants were aware of our presence. It was strange she’d been left alone.She seemed to be concentrating on something at her feet. It was hard to see as the grass which wasn’t to tall was in our way and we dared not stand in the canoes so as not to disrupt what was happening in front of us.
Then I noticed a little dark shape that she was fondling with her trunk. It was quite shiny. I slightly raised myself to get a better look with binoculars and could finally make out the reason for all for the noise and stressed elephants. There was a tiny new born calf at her feet, trying to get up on to its own feet.
What was perhaps even more incredible was that she started to pick up the placenta with her trunk and twist it around and flick it out in front of her like she was cracking a whip. Then she would pin it down and stand on it before throwing it out again without ever releasing her grip. It was almost as if she was cleaning it on the flood plain she was standing in. She was getting herself quite covered in blood and tissue by this stage. Suddenly she seemed satisfied and left the placenta and started to head towards the river only a few meters away.
The young calf all the while had been standing quietly at her back legs, (maybe still a bit disoriented as the mammary glands are between the front legs). But then was led into the river by it’s mother.
Luckily for us it was on the upstream of the female so we could just make out its head bobbing up and down and trunk flaying. Eventually the female got the calf in front of her and helped it along with her trunk and perhaps even kept it above water in the deepest section.
They both made it to the other side where the mother had a good shake and the calf seemed to stretch out for the first time in the open world, but was very wobbly on his legs. It turned out to be a HE.
The female then lay down in some dirt at the base of an old termite mound and rubbed her left flank, then stood up let out a low rumble. She was answered by what seemed to be the whole herd that were waiting for her and their new member in the tree line. They then sauntered off as only satisfied elephants can. The calf keeping perfectly at her side.
Whilst I was leading a group on a canoe and walking safari in one of the most pristine wilderness areas in Africa we came across one of the most moving and special sights I’ve ever witnesses in the bush.
After leaving the shady canopy of some Rain Trees where we lunched and rested through the midday sun we started to hear trumpeting and roaring from down stream. It was elephants. They really can make the most terrific noises. Noises that you may associate rather with some sort of prehistoric predator.
On getting around a bend in the river we saw a large herd of elephant crowded on the right bank on a bit of exposed flood plain. We kept our distance as they were clearly stressed, their temporal glands streaming.
After awhile waiting (with everyone on strict instructions not to make any noise) the herd moved away and crossed the river to the far bank. The river is generally very shallow and quite narrow. So it was a very easy wade for the larger females but came up to the flanks of some of the younger ones.One female was left alone. She had huge streams coming down her cheeks almost into her mouth. None of the elephants were aware of our presence. It was strange she’d been left alone.She seemed to be concentrating on something at her feet. It was hard to see as the grass which wasn’t to tall was in our way and we dared not stand in the canoes so as not to disrupt what was happening in front of us.
Then I noticed a little dark shape that she was fondling with her trunk. It was quite shiny. I slightly raised myself to get a better look with binoculars and could finally make out the reason for all for the noise and stressed elephants. There was a tiny new born calf at her feet, trying to get up on to its own feet.
What was perhaps even more incredible was that she started to pick up the placenta with her trunk and twist it around and flick it out in front of her like she was cracking a whip. Then she would pin it down and stand on it before throwing it out again without ever releasing her grip. It was almost as if she was cleaning it on the flood plain she was standing in. She was getting herself quite covered in blood and tissue by this stage. Suddenly she seemed satisfied and left the placenta and started to head towards the river only a few meters away.
The young calf all the while had been standing quietly at her back legs, (maybe still a bit disoriented as the mammary glands are between the front legs). But then was led into the river by it’s mother.
Luckily for us it was on the upstream of the female so we could just make out its head bobbing up and down and trunk flaying. Eventually the female got the calf in front of her and helped it along with her trunk and perhaps even kept it above water in the deepest section.
They both made it to the other side where the mother had a good shake and the calf seemed to stretch out for the first time in the open world, but was very wobbly on his legs. It turned out to be a HE.
The female then lay down in some dirt at the base of an old termite mound and rubbed her left flank, then stood up let out a low rumble. She was answered by what seemed to be the whole herd that were waiting for her and their new member in the tree line. They then sauntered off as only satisfied elephants can. The calf keeping perfectly at her side.