Field Guiding in South Africa

Echoes of the Elephants

After four weeks of game walks in South Africa's Kruger National Park, my senses had become responsive to even the slightest unusual noise that disturbed the otherwise constant soundtrack of the African bush. Now the snapping sound of Sicklebush shrubs being broken prompted me to look up from the manual I was attempting to study for my forthcoming Field Guide test. The sight of a huge grey mass with enormous ears and swaying trunk ambling through the woody thicket of the African Savannah was a welcome distraction and a useful revision exercise in itself. Or at least that was the excuse I gave myself for putting the book down and taking a break from learning about the medicinal uses of Marula trees.

A second glance at the panoramic hillside laid out in front of me revealed a small grey object fumbling along in the shadow of its mother’s protective bulk, its uncoordinated trunk flopping around so wildly as to almost trip it up. This must be the baby elephant born nearby the week before, the previous inhabitant of the discarded parachute-like placenta I had curiously inspected only a few hours after the birth. To see the baby now, newly thrust into the world after its 22 month gestation, was a true privilege. Watching, it became clear that I was about to witness another remarkable natural event as deep vocal rumbles started to resonate across the seemingly limitless bush. Elephants were congregating in front of me from every direction, drawn together as kinship groups coming to meet the latest addition to their clan for the very first time.

Small grey clusters soon became large groups; the faint rumbling sounds gave way to trumpeting; and slow ponderous walking accelerated into energetic trotting as each herd member drew closer to the source of the excitement. Joyous ear flapping accompanied reassuring touching from the powerful trunks which are strong enough to tear bark from a tree, yet dexterous enough to pluck a single leaf. I watched in silent fascination as the gentle, affectionate behaviour of the world’s largest land animal unmistakably expressed what it could not speak.

Sitting on that hillside in the African bush, far from the suffocating narrowness of my home town, I witnessed a baby elephant’s first meeting with the family members that would rear, guide, and eventually grieve for it over the next 60 years. My spirits rose to meet the vastness of the landscape and the unique scene I was privileged to witness. My qualifications, career, home, possessions and worries back in England immediately diminished in preoccupation and, at that moment, I was just a man observing the circle of life in its purest, most natural form.