The African elephant is a creature of immense majesty and grandeur. Often the centre of conversation around the campfire, mankind has sat and regaled one another since the dawn of early discovery with many tales of the hunt and close encounters with the mastodons. Embellishment often unnecessary, the great behemoths speak for themselves with an air of grace and sometimes, the temperament of an angry bull in a ring. For this is their land, surely the lion cannot be king?
This morning again reaffirmed my perceptions about the true rulers of the land when a single young bull stumbled upon a pride of thirteen lions busy gorging themselves on a zebra which had fallen victim to cunning team tactics employed by Africa’s most powerful predators.
An airstrip provided the backdrop to the setting and though we did not personally see the confrontation, we bore witness to the preamble.
An airstrip provided the backdrop to the setting and though we did not personally see the confrontation, we bore witness to the preamble.
Once informed of the lion kill, we meandered to our destination and before arriving, found the aforementioned bull sauntering along the centre of the airstrip, only distracted by the occasional impala of who he took to chasing, giving him great pleasure and bountiful confidence as they scarpered out his path.
Entertained, we left the bull to his antics and continued to pursue our initial quarry. As the vehicle crested the rise we gained our first sight of the Tsalala pride and their nine offspring. Quite a feat in itself to have two litters of cubs, merely two months apart in age (six and eight months- stated by fellow guide in the sighting) and all prospering thus far, I take my hat off to infallible motherhood.
Most had already had their fill and were whiling away their time either shading under whatever cover lay closest, or by appealing to their mothers’ more feminine side which promptly led to obsessive cleansing, typical of the cat family and providing us with some phenomenal photographic opportunities.
Satiated with excitement we left to make our gradual journey home. While travelling, we were informed by guides remaining at the loc that the bull elephant had in fact, walked straight into the pride and had proceeded to chase the lions around the strip with the lions nattily giving way and thus continuing to provide fuel for my hypothesis of who the true kings of Africa are.
Other sightings included; Lamula (male leopard) walking along the Manyeleti (Manyeleti means “place of stars” in the local language, Shangaan/Tsonga) and drinking water, Thandi and Bahuti on Gowrie Main with Bahuti practising his stalking tactics on his mother and promptly followed by playful interchange between this mother and son which the two have become so well known for. Aside from the bull elephant with the lions, there were a lot of breeding herds scattered about the traversing area and upon return to camp, a breeding herd of no less than 300 buffalo came to the pan to quench their thirst before moving off in an easterly direction towards the KNP boundary.
Most had already had their fill and were whiling away their time either shading under whatever cover lay closest, or by appealing to their mothers’ more feminine side which promptly led to obsessive cleansing, typical of the cat family and providing us with some phenomenal photographic opportunities.
Satiated with excitement we left to make our gradual journey home. While travelling, we were informed by guides remaining at the loc that the bull elephant had in fact, walked straight into the pride and had proceeded to chase the lions around the strip with the lions nattily giving way and thus continuing to provide fuel for my hypothesis of who the true kings of Africa are.
Other sightings included; Lamula (male leopard) walking along the Manyeleti (Manyeleti means “place of stars” in the local language, Shangaan/Tsonga) and drinking water, Thandi and Bahuti on Gowrie Main with Bahuti practising his stalking tactics on his mother and promptly followed by playful interchange between this mother and son which the two have become so well known for. Aside from the bull elephant with the lions, there were a lot of breeding herds scattered about the traversing area and upon return to camp, a breeding herd of no less than 300 buffalo came to the pan to quench their thirst before moving off in an easterly direction towards the KNP boundary.
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