JULY 21/2008SAVUTE SAFARI LODGE
With winter upon us the landscape has taken on a yellow hue as the grass dries up and breaks down and the leaves crackle and fall. The dry conditions mean that more and more elephants are finding their way to the waterholes at Savute Safari Lodge.
At brunch time yesterday guests counted on more than 20 elephants muscling in for water. Some of the males confronted their rivals with a trumpet sound and a swat of their trunks. It was only under the night sky, at 10p.m, that the breeding herd trundled down the hill to the water. Tiny elephants stuck close to their mothers and waded into the water, their mothers drinking their fill as well.
Missing though was a little elephant that caught our attention a few days ago. He had no trunk, only a stump of a conical nose where his trunk should be. We watched him ease up to the waterhole, extended his right back leg straight out, then tip his whole body forward to the water so he could drink. You could call it elephant ballet or elephant yoga, considering the grace shown by the bulky little fellow. Manager Obie Magunga said he thinks it’s the same one who came through a couple of years ago as a baby. It hasn’t grown much because he eats only what he can gather on the ground.
The odds of survival cannot be good for a little elephant without a trunk, an elephant born a misfit. But this little guy was adapting-with grace-and was keeping pace with the group. He was doing his part to fit in. I, for one, am pulling for him to survive another winter and beyond.
- MARIA HENSON - Desert & Delta Safaris Volunteer
No comments:
Post a Comment