All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By Nitin Gairola
The African Elephant is the largest living land animal and despite that it is one of the most graceful creatures on Earth. These mega mammals generally live in families headed by a matriarch (oldest & most dominant female in the herd) and have very strong social structures and bonds. These sentient beings roam the grassland savannahs, deep forests and even the southern deserts of the great African continent.
While the iconic Elephant can be seen in almost all national parks of Africa, the best among them for viewing the pachyderm are Amboseli National Park in Southern Kenya (which has Mt. Kilimanjaro as it’s backdrop), Kidepo Valley & Queen Elizabeth National Parks of Uganda, the famous Serengeti in Tanzania, South Luangwa in Zambia, Okavango Delta & Chobe in Botswana and finally in South Africa there is the Addo Elephant National Park and the popular Kruger. There are also elephants which have adapted to the harsh desert conditions found in north-west Namibia, in particular Kaokoland and Damaraland areas and the stunning Etosha National Park. The elephant belt in Africa in fact nicely overlaps with the lion belt and if Lion is the King, then the Elephant surely is the Emperor here.
The elephants in Africa belong to 2 species – the Bush or Savannah Elephant and the Forest Elephant. They both live upto 60 – 70 years in the wild, however the bush elephants can weigh upto 6 tonnes whereas the forest ones only upto 2 tonnes. The 3rd elephant species is of course the Asian Elephant, found all over India and other places in South and South-East Asia. Unlike their Asian cousins, of which only males have tusks, in Africa both male and female elephants can be tuskers. The Asian elephants weigh about 4 tonnes i.e. are smaller than the African bush elephants but larger than African forest elephants. Even elephant babies, called calves, can have a birth weight of upto 100-120 kilograms i.e. much more than most adult men (other than wrestlers and boxers)
Elephants, besides being social, are very intelligent as well. Amongst land animals, right after the primates i.e. humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, the elephant brain is the most developed. They are one of the few animals that recognize themselves basis their reflection in mirror or water, which is a sign of greater self-awareness. Elephant families collaborate in raising and caring for the young, travel long distances together in search of food, assist those who are injured and even mourn the dead at times. They have amazing long-term memories and also feel empathy for their companions. Elephants have been known to comfort other elephants in distress often by putting their trunks into the other’s mouth. This gives reassurance to the one who is feeling sad.
Elephants are by and large peaceful and gentle beings but there are cases of human-elephant conflict due to our encroachment into their living spaces. Also young male bull elephants can be very aggressive during the mating season (called musth) when their testosterone levels increase to more than 50 times normal. And a sure sign of such aggression is when an elephant opens and flaps its big ears. You know then it’s time to back off.
These giant herbivores naturally have a huge diet and eat a wide variety of plants including grass, leaves, shrubs, flowers, fruits, and even dig for roots after the rains. They also have crops such as millet. An adult elephant needs to eat upto 150 kilograms of food in a day or 50 tonnes a year.
Every year many wildlife enthusiasts celebrate World Elephant Day on 12th August and that date is fast approaching in 2024 as well (I am releasing this piece 2 weeks in advance so that some can prepare for the day). This ‘World Elephant Day’ is celebrated to bring back focus on the plight of these lumbering giants as their populations dwindle in the wild. Just a mere 100 years ago, there were 3-5 million of them in Africa but are now down to around 500,000 (half a million). Their numbers are down by over 80%, due to relentless killing by poachers for their ivory tusks. Nowadays things are changing for the better, due to the worldwide awareness and concern, especially of the global youth towards the environment and animals. Our tourist bucks go a long way in funding Elephant protection. So besides the phenomenal experience of seeing the modern day mastodons and mammoths, we actually contribute to the greater good of the planet by contributing to preserve these vulnerable animals.
We had a few amazing experiences with this massive mammal. In Kidepo Valley (Uganda-South Sudan), we saw a large herd passing us by, so we naturally stopped our jeep to have a closer look (though not too close). But since a few of the elephant babies were looking concerned, our driver decided to pull the jeep back a bit. As we did so, the back wheels got stuck in the mud and then we couldn’t go backwards, forward nor turn left or right. This is since the mud path was narrow and on the left and right it was covered with tall grass on semi-marshy ground. Then we had the moment when the huge matriarch raised its ears, trumpeted and charged at our jeep. She stopped just short of it but we were sitting ducks really had this mock charge (to warn) been an actual one. The matriarch simply was protecting her herd and when they had crossed our jeep, one by one, she also moved on. And while I couldn’t take her photograph when she was nearest to our jeep (you can understand why), I did take a great snap of hers turning towards us, showing her big ears and starting her run. There was another snap of hers turning away from us. It was a heart stopping moment and even our safari driver panicked a bit. There were truly just the 3 of us in the middle of nowhere in a trans-frontier grassland. No other tourist jeeps in sight unlike what you would have in Maasai Mara or Serengeti.
We also have some great memories from South Luangwa N.P. in Zambia during both our walking safaris and night safaris (something that is not allowed in national parks of Kenya or Tanzania other than in few private ranches and wildlife concessions). Richa and I, along with a German named Till, were just 100 meters away on ground from a bull elephant with tuskers. However we were reading his body language carefully and he did not seem aggressive at all, so we took quite a few photographs before we felt we shouldn’t test our luck any further. We got a stern warning (and rightly so) from a safari driver who was passing by.
In our night jeep safaris, I got some nice views of these giants in the dark, which you don’t normally get in most of the national parks. But on the last night in Luangwa, an angry elephant actually came into our camp and was violently shaking a tree. It did so for few minutes before moving on and I am glad he didn’t shake any of us, who were anyway quite shaken. I recall well that both David and Bernie (mentioned in my ‘Call of the Lions’ feature) were there too and it was a good way for Richa and I to say goodbye to these 2 safari heroes.
You know the African Elephant is iconic when Kenya’s favorite beer is called ‘Tusker’. So all I can say is just pick your dusty safari hat, your trusty camera & binoculars and head to Africa to gaze at these gentle giants. A Tusker beer at sundown would make it a perfect end to a safari day in Amboseli.
Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home.
