Elephants galore

In taking my friends to Pilanesberg, I was hoping that we'd get to see at least some of the big and impressive animals--rhinos, elephants, hippos--and maybe even lions, though I wasn't counting on that last sighting. By lunchtime, we'd seen plenty of zebra and giraffe, some warthogs hilariously squelching in the mud, and numerous kudu, impala, springbok, and waterbok. No elephants, no rhinos, no lions. And hippos only from afar. (Were those hippos or large rocks? Can we be sure?) Anne and Karen were really excited about all they'd seen so far in the day, but I was really really hoping for some elephants in the afternoon. So was Anne. We got our wish. On two separate occasions, we rounded a curve to find elephants RIGHT THERE. Here's our first encounter:

Elephant family from the rear. These guys were all just hanging out, snacking off the trees and blocking the road. We waited patiently for them to move on before driving forward, giving them a wide berth since there was a momma and babies. And since elephants are pretty wide anyway...


Following the road after the elephants moved on a bit:


Bye, elephant family. This nice peaceful picture was taken before a van overtook us and pulled up RIGHT NEXT to the momma elephant. Not smart. She bellowed at them, stretched out her trunk towards the van, and stomped her feet. Aaaa! Fortunately the elephant was more cool-headed than the camera-happy tourists and the animals moved on without incident. We lost no time in getting away from the provoking van. Especially since our car was half the size of the elephant...


Our second elephant encounter came at the end of the day. We headed for one last hide, hoping to see some animals at a watering hole just before sunset. We got there and found that the turnoff/parking area was blocked by two large elephants. So much for visiting the hide...the elephants certainly took precedence. I love this shot of me taking pictures of the elephants: