I have previously written about my great affection for elephants and how I could watch them for hours. This was strongly felt when, once again, I found myself watching elephants as they gathered on the far side of the riverbank at Fin Foot crossing. We had barely left camp; Fin Foot Crossing is only a few minutes away, when we came across the breeding herd. While we had gone in the hopes of seeing leopards and lions we didn’t realise that the sighting we were about to see would far surpass any of our expectations.
The elephants ranged in ages from an old mother to ‘teens’ and even a baby elephant that was still trying to control its wobbling trunk. What at first seemed to be a large herd moving along the sand bank soon materialised into a circus show with moves that would put even a professional yogi to shame!
Some elephants opted for a dust bath covering themselves in sand while others decided to lie down and get maximum pleasure from rolling around. Once one elephant had spread out on the sand, another one would join in and lie right next to the other. Each elephant looked in a state of complete bliss.
The sheer joy that the elephants were experiencing was obvious to see. While it was clear that they were relieving themselves of any itchiness from the sand and the way they rolled around, there was much more to this.
Being a quiet observer to this show was a real privilege. Needless to say, we hadn’t needed to see anything else that day. Everyone was happy to simply watch.
Written and Photographed by Kate Collins, Londolozi Blog Editor
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Awesome sighting Kate. Lovely pics.
Thank you Marinda, I hope you are having a wonderful time in Kruger. It looks like you had an incredible elephant encounter of your own from the images I have seen on Instagram 😉
What a great sighting Kate…they do look so happy and funny to see them climbing on top of each other! That’s the life that all elephants should get to live. Thank you for sharing the experience and wonderful pictures!
Thank you Jill. I shared this sighting with my mother and sister who were visiting me at Londolozi at the time and we could not stop laughing – perhaps they had eaten too many marulas? 🙂
Kate what a lovely article and photos. You know from my “Wee Tired Elephant” story last year how much I love the elephants. The only thing that could have made your story better would have been a note at the bottom that you shared the day with Ed!
Hi Ed, thank you for your comment, I loved that sequence of yours, I will go revisit it today. I agree, the only thing missing is that the day would have been far better had this sighting been shared with you! I saw Mike K the other day and we both miss you very much.
Nothing quite like a group of very happy Ellies!
Thank you for sharing!
Elephants are so special.Thank you Kate for capturing and sharing such a wonderful sighting..see you soon
I am so looking forward to seeing you! Just a pity Flavio is not here to join us and make us laugh as much as we did that night. We will have to find a new recruit 🙂
Kate, we were there for that sighting too! It was a riot! Love your pics!
Thanks Michael, what a sighting indeed, so pleased you got to share in it. Were you driving with James?
Amazing photos! I love elephants! Can’t wait to get back to Londolozi
Thank you Judy. I hope you will visit us again soon… 🙂
Nice photos, esp. elephants. I like elephants but at the same time scared of them.