The Elephants Of Savute - 04:31 am
22 Feb 2010
Water seems to be a constant theme for us here in Savuti at the moment. As well as the river flowing for the first time in 30 years the rainy season is still upon us and the morning skies are heavy with rain clouds.
The heavy rains from these clouds have caused an explosion of plant growth on the Savute marsh and as such, elephant (Loxodonta africana) can be found gently cruising through this area, specifically looking for the flowering plants and the nutrition found in their roots
We spent several hours with the Bull elephant you see above and he was incredibly relaxed in our presence which allowed us to get exceedingly close.
At the start of the drought here in Savute the migration routes for the elephants were broken so the Botswanan government decided to start pumping artificial water holes. The pressure of finding enough water caused the breeding herds to move out of the area but there was a core group of about 60 bulls that stayed. The close proximity to the lodges of the new artificial water holes meant that the bulls had to become accustomed to being close to man. The long lifespan of Elephants has meant that this learned behaviour is now firmly entrenched in these elephants psyche meaning that they are now some of the most relaxed elephants to be found in all of Africa.
Another interesting factoid about Botswanan elephants is their tusks. The grazing here is actually of quite a low quality which means that the Elephant have to supplement their normal grazing intake with a high volume of bark which they scrape of the trees with their tusks. This behaviour combined with the low quality of their diet means their tusks are considerably smaller, less dense and more brittle than Elephants from other regions of Africa. This is demonstrated in the photo below where you can clearly see that the tip of the tusk has broken off.
As he steadily grazed his way across the marsh we followed and watched him as he ripped plant matter from the ground, cleaning the roots by wiping it across the rough skin on his face.
It was incredible to spend so much time this close with our planets largest terrestrial animal. Although incredibly powerful it was clear to me that these are intelligent, sentient and incredibly gentle animals.
- Chris Harries
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Comments
2 posted at 01:32am on 09 April, 2010 by NIGEL AND PIXIE LENNARD
Hello Earthtouch Crew,
Congratulations on a fabulous web page - the photos and information are top-notch. Keep up the excellent work…
If only we had your skills… but happy to say that our Namibian pix, turned out pretty well but then sadly our laptop with most of them on it was stolen (not in Africa pleased to say) so we are going back !!!!
We are doing a home exchange with a nice couple from Pretoria who have given us the use of their 4 wd camping rig (toyota hilux) and we plan to visit Botswana (self-drive & camping, not lodges) from approx 22 August to 19 September 2010.
We have had very little luck in obtaining information on where to see animals e.g. waterholes - natural/manmade etc...(apparently there are 1000’s of them but no real locations mentioned)
We would like to spend a few days in MOREMI game reserve and Chobe - if you have time to reply we would appreciate your advise on ‘water holes’ and maybe a map resource ?
We were very spoilt in Etosha - huge numbers of every animal and all we had to do was sit in our motor home (another home exchange swap) sipping v.g. Sth African wine and watch them..
Can we expect this type of thing in Moremi ?
Also What about Chobe are there less touristy animal viewing areas than the brochures mention ?
We appreciate that perhaps you do not reply to this type of request (too busy or not your role ?) but if you were able to assist us, or point us towards animal information, we would be very grateful.
Thank you
Kind regards
Pixie and Nigel
3 posted at 05:13am on 05 May, 2010 by JasonL
Hi Pixie and Nigel
I’ve put some information together and have mailed you directly.
Cheers
Jason
1 posted at 09:05pm on 22 February, 2010 by Saul Klibanow
I have been to the pump holes in Savuti and the relaxed nature of the elephants is amazing. But one of the most interesting elephant involvements I have had was at a place called Baines Camp in Botswana where the have a program called the elephant experience. You get to interact with three grown elephants (whose parents were culled many years ago) that are habituated to man. Walking through the brush, touching and observing these animals was really quite amazing.