Ilza and I stopped in a small parking area next to the Gwarrie Pan in the Addo Elephant Park (AEP) to watch a couple of herds of elephants playing in the water and covering themselves in mud. There were about thirty elephants all having a grand time, spraying water, drinking and squishing around.
This would not normally be unusual in the AEP as there are several waterholes where the great grey pachyderms congregate and have fun.
It was unusual however because in recent months, maybe two years or so, Gwarrie had been gradually drying up due to a lengthy drought desiccating large parts of the Eastern Cape. Park management pumps water into most waterholes, but Gwarrie was left to dry out.
Gwarrie’s relentless shrinking is not serious for the animals because it is only two kilometres from Rooidam – a small dam that is routinely filled by management.
It was sad however, for those who enjoyed the unusual visual aspects of the pan.
Beautiful mountains in the distance provide a magnificent backdrop for large tuskers. Closer in, a gentle hill sprinkled with the white bones of those who didn’t make it, takes wildlife down to the banks of the shallow pan.
The most unusual aspect of this scene is created by the black mud on the banks and in the shallows of the pan. The mud appears to be some sort of clay, but it is against the regulations to get out and feel it so I can’t say for sure. It looks like a type of clay and the elephants clearly love it.
They roll in the black mud, splash it onto their bodies until they are the world’s only black elephants. It seems to keep them cool and protects them from insects.
Recent rains were not sufficient to end the drought but they did bring enough water to ensure that Gwarrie Pan is back and the elephants were loving it.
We watched them for a long time as they were in different parts of the dam amusing themselves in their own special ways. A couple of young bulls tested their strength against each other in a shoving match. A baby calf ran into the water all splashes and joy. Four adults were pushing each other cheek to jowl to make face masks of a particularly sludgy deposit of mud.
The parking area is about ten metres above the pan and perhaps thirty metres from the closest edge. The far side is about another eighty metres away. These are just guesses to show the reader that although we had an excellent view of the action it’s not ideal for taking close-ups.
A few more elephants arrived and some wandered off into the bush. A small family lumbered up the banks to our parking area and stared at the cars full of visitors. We were sharing the area with about another four or five vehicles.
There is strict protocol about turning your car off when at a sighting. You are supposed to arrive at the place, find a good position and then switch off your engine.
There are several reasons for this protocol:
Engine noises upset animals. They definitely do not enjoy hearing a car revving its engine.
Air-conditioners sometimes make more noise than the engine.
It upsets other visitors who enjoy listening to the sounds of nature and especially the sounds of elephants. (They have a very noisy digestive system).
There are several reasons why people don’t turn off the ignition of their cars:
They are ignorant fools who don’t know they are disturbing the animals and other visitors.
It’s hot and they like keeping the air-conditioning on.
They are too lazy to turn the car off, because then they will have to turn it back on again.
They want to keep the engine running in case an elephant charges.
This last reason is interesting and was definitely under consideration when a family of elephants began surrounding us in the parking area.
I am sure that we have all seen videos on social media of angry elephants either chasing down a safari vehicle or sitting on a sedan car. Such experiences must be terrifying as an enraged elephant can flip a car over or squash its occupants with ease.
I must admit that while sitting in our car with elephants all around us, some of those videos came to mind. As far as I know, no such incident has ever been recorded in AEP where there are over 600 elephants.
The herd in the parking area was too close to take pictures with my camera – I had to resort to my cell-phone.
They milled around for a while. Sniffing urine on the ground, walking this way, walking that way and occasionally plucking some spekboom from a nearby bush.
Several times an elephant came within a hand’s-breadth of our car. Yes, I was nervous. It wasn’t the big cows in the family that made me twitchy – it was the two youngsters who were curious about this strange blue lump of metal that looked really out of place.
At one point, one of the calves who probably weighed more than our car and had short but very pointy tusks, came right up to the front and stared directly at its occupants. Maybe he wanted to play?
Advice from those who know the elephants of the AEP say do not worry – “Our gentle giants will not hurt you. Enjoy the sighting”.
I considered starting the car, but that would have been in vain. There were so many elephants and cars in that small parking area, I could never have started up and got out there without some serious fender bending.
So we sat tight and admired the mud-covered elephants from up close. Very close.
It was a breath-taking experience and I loved the adrenaline rush. None of the elephants in the vicinity showed any signs of aggression. None of them displayed signs of being in musth. There were no mock charges. The only ear-flapping was a gentle movement to cool them off, so I don’t think we were ever in any real danger.
As an added safety measure, whenever you are in an area where you could be in close proximity to elephants always make sure that it has a route to follow away from you. In other words, do not block pathways. An elephant can become anxious if it is walking along a path and a car blocks its way. You don’t want to do that.
As we go the AEP quite often, we know some of the pathways that elephants usually follow. For example, there is a well-worn path that runs more or less parallel to the road leading to the Lismore waterhole. Elephants like to follow this trail and I know exactly where the path comes closest to the road. I can then park my car so that elephants come close, but not too close, on their way for a drink.
If an elephant is blocking the road, never hoot (honk) to chase it away. Do not go up to it and hope that it will move – they have right of way. Stop your car at a respectful distance. Turn off the engine and wait. He will move on shortly because there is nothing to eat or drink in the road.
People who have an understanding of elephants in different parks recognise that the elephants of Addo are a particularly placid bunch. Some time ago, young bull elephants at the Pilanesburg Reserve had a very bad reputation because it was believed that they lacked an older leader to keep them in check. It has also been reported that elephants living in the more remote regions of the Kruger Park tend to be aggressive towards cars.
We saw many other animals on our day trip, but Gwarrie Pan certainly provided the highlights.
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