So Many Elephants

We’ve been five days without Wi-Fi. And we’ve seen so much since my last post!  I’ll start with the elephants.  There’s a bigger concentration of them in this part of Southern Africa than anywhere else on the planet.  With more than 45,000 each in two National Parks we’ve visited, they’re not threatened here as they are elsewhere in the world.  In fact, there’s work being done to determine the best way to manage their numbers down.  

We’ve been in awe as we observed so many different behaviors, including taking dirt and mud baths; drinking and showering at watering holes; protecting their young; feeding on plants, grass and leaves; relaxing under trees in mid-day shade, and occasionally flapping their ears and trumpeting to warn us away.  But the encounter we’ll definitely remember came when one young male elephant attempted to mount another boy from behind.  It suddenly appeared that he might have two trunks  .  .  .