Africa’s largest land mammal must be one of the most awesome sights to see up close.
It brings you into perspective and is definitely a very humbling experience to have.
These gentle giants gracefully walk through the open spaces and very dense thickets that the African bushveld offers and can very easily disappear... just as fast as they can appear around that blind corner or seemingly vacant bush.
In the past week on a morning game drive we were spoilt by one of the big boys on the reserve, who quietly emerged from the thickets to take a short break from his continual foraging regime.
(We have had some lovely rain in the past weeks with the dams filling up nicely and of course all the mud wallows, the ones you find right in the road, these are nice and muddy again! Not only do these wallows offer tons of fun for ellies, rhinos and warthogs it also offers great opportunities for the keen photographers to get that perfect close up shot in a puddle of fun.)
We happened to be in the right place at the right time…just the way the bush likes to dish it up…
This gigantic bull elephant pulled in at the wallow for a quick mud treatment! He casually dipped his trunk into the muddy water, filled it up....and...
One trunkfull muddy water coming up!
We sat quietly watching this big boy systematically cover his whole body with a layer of mud, trunk by trunk.
They do this to protect their skins from the hot sun, keeping them just that little bit cooler and of course it helps to get rid of parasites that are cruising along for the free ride.
Around each corner lies a surprise here at Amakhosi!
These gentle giants gracefully walk through the open spaces and very dense thickets that the African bushveld offers and can very easily disappear... just as fast as they can appear around that blind corner or seemingly vacant bush.
In the past week on a morning game drive we were spoilt by one of the big boys on the reserve, who quietly emerged from the thickets to take a short break from his continual foraging regime.
(We have had some lovely rain in the past weeks with the dams filling up nicely and of course all the mud wallows, the ones you find right in the road, these are nice and muddy again! Not only do these wallows offer tons of fun for ellies, rhinos and warthogs it also offers great opportunities for the keen photographers to get that perfect close up shot in a puddle of fun.)
We happened to be in the right place at the right time…just the way the bush likes to dish it up…
This gigantic bull elephant pulled in at the wallow for a quick mud treatment! He casually dipped his trunk into the muddy water, filled it up....and...
One trunkfull muddy water coming up!
We sat quietly watching this big boy systematically cover his whole body with a layer of mud, trunk by trunk.
They do this to protect their skins from the hot sun, keeping them just that little bit cooler and of course it helps to get rid of parasites that are cruising along for the free ride.
Around each corner lies a surprise here at Amakhosi!
It’s that time of the year when you can most definitely expect the unexpected when heading out into the African bush!
And we can't wait to share it with you here at Amakhosi!
