August 19: 2nd Day - AM Drive (2nd game drive)

Hyena feeding on an Elephant carcass, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

We wake up to a knock on our door at 5:30AM. At 6, we pile into the LR and what should Ashleigh give us then? A heated blanket and a warm water bottle. Lol.

Before the sun is up, we drive towards the remains of a fallen male elephant whose carcass of bones is being chewed by a pack of hyenas. This particular elephant had gone inside the Bush Lodge during his period of tus meaning he was full of testosterone and thus very aggressive. He caused a huge commotion and much harm and after several rounds of plastic bullets, the rangers had to resort to using real bullets. The young elephant died and his body was taken to the plains where the lions quickly claimed it for themselves. When the lions were done, the hyenas and vultures quickly followed suit. Now 4 months later with the flesh stripped bare from the bones, the hyenas hadn’t yet figured out that there was nothing left for the picking. And so, we watched as their powerful jaws clamped through those elephant bones and made crushing sounds that caused our spines to tingle.

Later that morning, we then see a herd of 25+ elephants. We follow them as they slowly head east. There are quite a few baby elephants. It’s amusing to see the babies run to catch up to their mum. We soon come to a stop. We are surrounded by elephants eating to their hearts content. At one point, a huge mama elephant puts her trunk to the ground and emits a low, deep, rumbly noise. She is communicating something to the others. The sound will be heard kilometers away by other elephants. Afterwards, this same elephant looks up and turns her gaze directly at us. We settle into our seats right away. Her ears go up and we see the African continent reflected in her huge out-flapped ears. Her trunk then moves upward and she makes a trumpeting noise. Beside me, Andrew too is still as a rock. Then, she turns her gaze away from us and stomps on the grass and weeds below. We exhale breaths. Minutes later, we are clicking away on our cameras when we’ve caught another elephant’s attention. Although she doesn’t flap her ears nor make any sounds, her gaze renders us immobile again. We ask Ashleigh if elephants have ever attacked anyone at Kruger. She replies ‘No’. However, sometimes baby male elephants 3-5 feet in height will charge at a LR and stop right by the edge. It will then stomp the ground, flap its ears and make trumpeting noises to show its dominance. All this of course will attract its mum’s attention who will then call her wayward child back. Most of the time, the baby will run back to its mum straight away. At other times, the child will continue with his antics at which point the mama will have to fetch him from the LR and push the child away from the vehicle using her trunk. Upon hearing this, we immediately asked if there was something we could do to provoke such a response from any of the baby elephants eating nearby. However, such acts are completely random and subject to the whim of the baby. *Oh well*

During this morning drive, we also get our first glimpse of Cape Buffalos. Of the Big 5, buffalos are the most dangerous to humans as they do not give a warning when they attack. Rhinos and elephants will paw the ground with their front paws, lions will roar and leopards will grumble but if a buffalo wants to attack, it will just charge! Looking at them though, with birds pecking at their eyes and standing inside their ears, they seem like such docile creatures.

All too soon, our morning safari comes to an end. So far, we’ve seen 4 of the Big 5: rhinos, lions, elephants and buffalos = )