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Published: July 25th 2010
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Neil & Matteus would be our guides for then next 5 days, Neil is about 30yrs, a white South african living in Namibia, not only is he qualified in what he does, but his knowledge and passion of it is evident. he has a great sense of humour and a naughty boy look about him, and you got the impression that he could charm the birds out of the trees. Matteus is a large, strong 50ish black African with years of experience in the bush, beforw coming to EHRA he was involved in rhino conservation. He is quiet with us and appears a little shy, but maybe that is because he feels his english is not good, he is like a gentle giant and you feel very safe having him around. they make a good team.
EHRA patrols a particular area and it is very large, so finding elephants is not easy, its amazing how something so large can just disappear. there are 4 main herds in the patrol area, and a few more herds that come and go. Sometimes Neil will also go into the desert to track the resident herds that roam there, but they are harder to find.
EHRA - Patrol week
Waiting for the sun When tracking they just seem to drive into the bush looking for tracks, we all stand or sit on top of the open trucks trying to avoid the trees and bushes, and not fall off as we bump along, its great fun. Neil explained about how to track an elephant from their footprints, about their dung, how they move so quietly, etc, etc
Some previous groups have only seem the odd sighting of elephants, and we had already seen elephants twice in our first week, so on day one when Neil found tracks of a herb that were fresh, we felt very fortunate. We eventually found the herd which is called Mamma Africa, they are a healthy herd of 10 elephants including 2 babies. We followed them for the rest of the day, it was a frill to observe them so closely.
That evening we set up camp at the base of a rocky outcrop, the 2 trucks are positioned on either side of the camp, at the back is rocks, and the camp fire is positioned at the front, this gives best protection against wandering elephants. everyday camp would be at a differnt location, but the set up was
always the same.
The next morning we climbed the rocks to watch the sun come up. We caught up with Mamma Africa again, but after a short time left in search of another herb called G6 that Neil wanted to check on. we often stopped at rocky outcrops to climb to get a better view of the surrounding area, as we approached one of these, Lizzy, Emily and I were together at the front of the second truck suddenly we saw a leopard jump across 2 rocks and dissappear, we all shouted Leopard at the same time, it was an added bonus to the trip.
We thought we had been lucky so far, but the next day would prove very eventful;
Early in the morning we found the Ugab Small herd, then one of the trucks got stuck in deep sand and we had to toe it out. After lunch we saw the domient male of the area call Voortrekker, he was in "musk" an event that only happens once a year and only for about 10 days, he will move from herd to herd looking for a female in cycle, and he was a very big boy!
Shortly after leaving Voortrekker we eventually caught up with G6, they were about 300 metres away from us but they appeared agitated and kept very close together surrounding the 2 babies in the herd and blowing up clouds of sand. Voortrekker appeared and moved throught the herd before moving on, we are not sure if his presence is what got them so worked up, but then they started to move towards us and as they appeared around some trees just behind us, one of them charged and suddenly they all joined in, trumpeting as they ran, Neil and Matteus started the trucks and hit the excellerators and we hung on for dear life as we went flying through the bush, they continued to chase us for about half a kilometre before we out run them, they are amazingly fast. When we stopped, everyone was on an adrenelin rush and talking all at once, Neil decided to set up camp early that day, but the fun had only just started.
As we set up camp, Neil sent a couple of the group to the top of the rocks to for any elephants, and sure enough, we had company. 3 lone male elephants were approaching from three different directions, so we all climbed up to watch the outcome. One was Voortrekker and when he met the other two, he made it very clear who was incharge. The two younger males then locked tusks and trucks and started fighting which went on for a long time until the sun went down, Neil advised us that this was only play fighting, but it was fasinating to watch.
We had set up camp near a settlement and a source of water and while we watch the males, G6 turned up, it was like Paddington Station for elephants. Fortunately they did not show much interest in our camp and marched passed towards the water, unfortunately there was no water available for them as the pump was not working, so when they realized that, they moved away.
We eventually got dinner, it was pitch dark and were just relaxing when Neil ordered us up onto the rocks, he put the search lights on, and only about 5 metres away was Voortrekker, the other two male were nearby, they were busy eating and were in no hurry to move on. when they did leave, Neil decided we needed to keep a fire burning all night, so that is what we did.
The next morning; we awoke to ice on the outside of our sleeping bags, after the events of the day before, Neil decided that we would have a later start and so as the sun came up we put all the bags on the rocks to dry. It was our last morning, we would be heading back to basecamp after lunch, so was sure we would not see anything more, but the elephants had one more treat in-store for us. As we headed back be came across G6 again and they were in a different mood, they were spread out alone a dry riverbed and seemed very relaxed. As we observed one of the adult females, she suddenly lay down and went to sleep, it is very, very rare that an elephant lays down, they normally sleep standing up. After a while we moved to observe another one of the herd and we couldn't believe that she did the same, curled up like a baby, it was very funny to see. We then left them and headed for base camp.
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Phil McNamara
non-member comment
Amazing!!
I Cheryl, I have just see your latest blog re the elephant esxperience, it sounds amaxing and many worlds away from NZ. Are you sure you are going back to NZ, you sound a if you are having too much fun and excitement there?!!! Life goes on here as usual in "B" land.... I will add nothing to that just continue to enjoy your experience. Cheers, Phil