The elephant trap

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We had a warm welcome at Lower Sabie Camp by a herd of elephants. We checked into our rondola at about 4pm and debated whether to have a shower (it had been several days!) or just go for food at the restaurant. We decided the latter, and I'm glad we did. We had a show of elephants walking by during the whole meal. This is real Africa!



The next day, our first real day at this camp, we set off driving with high hopes of finding big cats as this is what the Lower Sabie area is known for. We had a few lion sightings but what was really noticeable was the sheer number of elephants along the river. It was as if someone had come along and just released a freight train full of elephants! This became a bit of a problem on our evening drive as we ended up in an elephant trap. In other words, elephants kept crossing the road in front of us, meaning it was hard to get back to camp. Elephants are pretty much the scariest animal on safari as they are the only one able to harm you in your car. Most of the time they just ignore you but if you get a feisty single male, watch out! It's also a bad idea to get into the middle of a herd, but it's difficult to avoid when they keep on emerging from the bushes, suddenly coming onto the road in front of you. We saw elephants do the warning signs of a charge to several of the more aggressive drivers, when they shake their heads and flare their ears. Luckily, no-one was charged as far as we know. That wouldn't be pretty! We were cautious and continually on alert for emerging elephants and made it to camp without incident, phew!

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