As I write this post, there are 6 bull elephant drinking at the water hole on the opposite bank of the river. ( I'm sitting at the outdoor lounge of Motswari. In the group are four large older bulls and two younger males, between 9 and 12 years of age. Watching the behaviour and interactions of the group provides a strong reminder of exactly why this blog site.....and Trunk Calls is being written. Elephant are highly intelligent and have amazing social structure. There are subtle interactions and complex communications going on in the group. The younger males are typical youngsters, full of fun and bravado. The older males provide a safe and important way for the youngsters to learn how to behave.
Some young elephant removed from Kruger culls in the early 90's were translocated to various reserves in South Africa. This young elephant struggled without older animals to teach them the ways of elephant. Many of these cull ' babies' became problematic animals. Some of the elephant calves pulled from the cull and translocated to Thukela were so stressed by the relocation that three of the youngsters died. ( Just recently the remaining animals in this group were rescued by Animal Rights Africa and moved to SANWILD)
There are and have been some very controversial elephant issues in South Africa. Culling, removal of calves from the cull, removal of elephant from the wild for training, elephant back safaris, the Tuli elephant cruelty case and the Pilanesburg burn elephant. All of these issues, based on personal and direct involvement in these cases and issues will be posted here !
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is currently drafting a national policy on the management of elephant in South Africa. Go to DEA&T's website to follow developments.....and take part in the process.
An elephant bull having a whale of a time. This large bull elephant could easily be mistaken for a whale. Also taken at Ndlopfu Big Dam, the bull was wading around, almost completely submerged - with just his bottom and the tip of his trunk sticking out of the water. He rolled on side, sloshed around under the water and periodically tried to give us a fright by suddenly coming up out of the water right in front of us.
