13 Damaraland, elephant

 

the lone male elephant
the lone male elephant

13.03.14, Damaraland lodge, elephant tracking

 My next flight took me to Damaraland, a less luxurious lodge further inland, where there were more people but it was still not very full. The first trip took me and 5 others to a nearby very primitive farm occupied by a family from South Africa. A young man who was an avid football fan showed us round and told us hair raising stories about encounters with wild animals.

 A dawn breakfast served out in the bush gave the 6 of us the energy to spend all morning tracking one elephant, which we finally found, a lonely young male. The rest of the herd had gone off elsewhere following some rain which had fallen recently. We drove along dried up river beds, between rocky hills and over sand dunes, encountering several herds of Oryx antelope on the way. The elephant was in mast and not very pleased to see us, trumpeting and kicking up clouds of sand and dust.

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