Elephant Bath Time
Samburu had proved to be very rewarding, the weather warm and sunny and no sign of the rains yet.
In the evening we found a beautiful young leopard the colour of silver. There were lots of elephant about working their way along the edge of the Ewaso Ng'iro river eating the young tender bush leaves.
We decided to go to a mud hole on the edge of the river that was frequented by families of elephants late afternoon. We arrived at the mud hole with little sign of the elephants so decided to sit and wait. After a short while we noticed a small herd of elephants working their way slowly along the rivers edge on the opposite bank. As they drew level with the mud hole they all lined up, large and small, and proceeded to cross the river towards us.
We stayed quietly in a small group of sparse palms and waited to see what they would do. As they arrived on our side they didn’t notice our presence and walked into the mud hole below us. More and more elephants arrived and each time they greeted each other by touching trunks and making deep low rumbling sounds. I could feel the sounds pass through my body and I felt a strange closeness almost acceptance by the herd.
The herd was full of characters the old matriarch taking up her favourite position to ensure she got completely covered in this fine sticky mud. The kids were on the edge playing together, not wanting to go into the mud, hoping that the mother would be so engrossed in her bath that she would not notice them missing out on a bath. Eventually they were spotted and the mother climbed out of the mud, looking twice her size, and made a beeline for one of the naughty kids. The calf was now well and truly trapped between the edge of the mud hole and the mother bearing down. The calf was teetering on the edge, the mother laid her large trunk on its back and pushed the calf towards the edge. The calf scriggled and managed to prevent the mother forcing it into the mud hole. The mother wasn’t for giving up yet and strategically placed the tip of her large white tusk on the little lads backside. I suppose it was inevitable but I laughed as the calf dropped over the edge and into the mud hole head first. It took a few seconds but up it came covered in mud from head to foot, job done. Now where’s the other one, it had watched what had gone on and to save effort climbed into the mud hole with the other one.
They now played for several minutes showering each other in mud. Stage two was a dust bath and the fine dust got blown everywhere including over me and all my equipment. Had to be grateful I wasn’t treated to a mud bath.
After all the excitement most of the herd, about 20, moved over towards us and surrounded us. They knew we were there but paid us little attention, that’s except for the two little guys.
They came up to the vehicle, raised their trunks and tried to work out what we were. The low rumblings reverberated through my chest and had a calming, relaxed feel. This went on for sometime until their curiosity waned and they rejoined the herd.
Bath time was now officially over and everyone started to line up for the crossing of the river and long trek home. We watched until they had become tiny specks on the trail, watch the sun set fires of red and orange then headed home for a well earned bath, no mud!
