Night elephants

At around 11pm, the relative calm around the waterhole outside the Ark (which is floodlit at night), was shattered by a huge herd of elephants charging towards the waterhole – we counted at least 21. 

Among them were babies (several still suckling), all carefully protected within the centre of the herd. The elephants seemed on edge – at night they can’t see well, so they need to be on guard for predators looking to grab one of the babies! 

We spotted at least seven hyenas on the edge of the clearing, but one elephant would occasionally storm off to chase them away. The herd is usually led by females, but the largest elephant by far was a giant male with huge tusks – one was broken. The guides told us that he was originally part of another group, but had been accepted by this family on account of his size!

The elephants seemed to charge away anything that got close; fairly dopey buffalo were chased off, and even the mild-mannered geese pottering around the mud seemed to spook the elephants. Our whole group was mesmerized by the sight.

It was hard to take photos at night, but check out the video: