Africa Day 5: Zulu Nyala, Walking Safari Part 2

After a very eventful morning, we had a sole purpose for our afternoon walking safari: find elephants. William had a general idea where the three that we had seen previously had been in the morning, but elephants can cover over 20 miles per day, so there was no telling where they were now. But William was undeterred and crazy vigilant in working to pick up the trail of the elephants. We learned quite a bit about tracking elephants on the day.

It didn't take long before William had picked up the trail. He showed us elephant tracks and showed us by the positioning of the footprint in which direction the elephants had headed. He then picked up some nearby branches that, judging by the moisture in them, they had pulled off the trees in the morning. He also picked up large cube of elephant dung and pulled it apart to show us the center, which also let us know that they had been there in the morning. But since morning, William explained, they could have made it over the ridge in the distance, in which case we were not going to find them today. He then took off into the brush to try to find more clues as to specifically which direction they had been heading.

We then hiked for a while, maybe a mile or so in the direction we determined the animals had moved. We moved over hilly grasslands and every once in a while stopped to look and listen off in the distance with the hopes of hearing a trumpet or seeing movement in the trees or catching another animal that had heightened its guard. We then hit the lower land, moving through a dried out river bed and it was then that William stopped and shushed us. I'm not sure if William has super hearing or if he is just so used to hearing the sounds, but he picked up on the distinctive sound of branches breaking, and sure enough, in the distance, we saw a trunk rise above the tree line.

William again asked us to be quiet, although it was a bit unnecessary at this point as our excitement hushed us as we prepared to close in on the animals. William also said to try to avoid stepping on any branches...and then promptly broke a twig with his next step. High comedy and we all, including William, fought to muffle our laughs. Before too long we had make our way to a clearing and we could see the head of one of the elephants as it reached its trunk up to feed on branches high up a tree. Then the elephants stopping eating and moving. We were made!

At each one of our animal encounters, William made sure that we had an exit route as well as ensuring there was one for the animals to avoid cornering one. He pointed it out to us and then began to explain what the elephants would now do. They would start to slowly move a little closer to see what had caused the sound. Once they saw us, we could probably expect a mock charge during which the elephant will expand its ears, make a bunch of noise, and generally try to scare us. We were hoping we didn't see a real charge which would mean their ears would be pulled back. Sure enough, after not too long, an elephant came into view, much closer than the distance at which we had seen them feeding. This was only about 30 or so yards. As if on queue, we were treated to a mock charge as the elephant, still partially obscured by a tree made herself seem even bigger by spreading her ears wide.

This was more than enough for William as he chambered a round on the rifle, told us to stay put, and then approached the animal yelling in a mix of English and Zulu until the elephant finally yielded and retreated. William then told us to get a move on and retreat along our escape route as the elephants would continue to follow us. We quickly headed back through the trees and came to a watering hole with an embankment on the far side. We quickly headed for the far side. After a few minutes, the determined elephants emerged from the same trees that we had come through. At William's urging, we quickly scampered behind the embankment and from our bellies watched as the animals scanned the scene to the best of their poor eyesight's ability, and then headed along the far side of the watering hole, lessening any immediate danger to us and we were able to stand on the embankment again and take some photos of the three across the pond.

We made our way back to our truck, which conveniently enough, after all of our circling was not far off. As we jumped in and began to recap our afternoon before heading back, another safari vehicle pulled up with a small group that had been out driving. We exchanged a few words with them and then, to our surprise, the three elephants paraded out from behind a thicket of trees, glanced at our truck, reached out their trunks to sniff the other truck, and then found a nearby bush to continue their feeding. We headed back to the lodge and said our goodbyes to William since we were headed off to continue our adventures in Cape Town the next day. We then enjoyed another great sunset and had a group dinner with our new friends from Atlanta.