We have friends from the UK visiting at the moment and so they joined us on our early morning drive to find elephants. I have been out of camp for a month, busy down in Gaborone and they area has changed dramatically as the annual floods have arrived. I am always very nervous when the floods are first down as you are fairly unsure as to which roads are going to be usable, we have some idea from previous years but it is always a bit of a gamble. Thankfully we did not get stuck in spite of endless stretches of water and deep crossings.
It was very quiet out and about, probably due to the winds that were constant all night (it was quite strong at times, so strong that a picture fell off the mantel piece above my bed and fell on my head. I now have a large lump!!!). Elephants do not like wind and I think they were still hiding, as were the other mammals. So we were about to head home when on the edge of Horseshoe Lagoon, we did see some elephants.
It was the Abu herd (used for Elephant Back Safaris) so we watched as Kettimetsi and her baby Lorato, feed on the rich riverine forest vegetation. We were telling our friends about the elephants, and the difference between male and females when I spotted a male walking across the lagoon behind them. We went around the lagoon and found him with the female Sherini, we thought she was in oestrous so waited and watched and sure enough we saw, or rather heard them – as they hid in the bushes, it was a loud affair with trumpets and rumbles from the entire herd. Little Paseka, Sherini’s adopted daughter, was roaring away, I am not sure she was that impressed by it all.
We are monitoring Sherini’s hormones so it will be very interesting to see what happens now!!!!
