We were welcomed by most memorable and breathtaking sight on Thursday afternoon.
We got to witness a baby elephants first steps in the big Africa Bush!!
We were out on a late afternoon game drive, with not expecting much we came across an elephant herd just leisurely browsing. But
when we got closer we notice something on the ground between a elephant cows legs. A NEW BORN BABY ELEPHANT!!!
The little elephant was a mere half an hour old. Still wet and barely able to stand, the mom started cleaning him.
We were very honoured to be in the position to witness this event as a elephant cows are normally so stressed when giving birth that she will not
allow anyone near her. After cleaning her new born calf she started eating the afterbirth. What she couldn’t eat she buried to mask the smell of the birth and thus keeping away any unwanted predators. She was very gentle with the calf. Among all of this there was another one of her calves approximately 4 years old. Elephant cows have intervals of 3-4 years between babies.
The older calf was very protective of his new sibling and kept nudging him to get up. When the little one eventually got up he was there for support and the older calf never
let the little one out of his sight. The Cow then went on to cover the remains of the birth with dust and gave herself a decent dust bath to cover the blood stains on her legs, trunk and face from trying to help the little one up after he was born.
This was truly an amazing sight- But the best was still to come!!
The cow came walking straight to the vehicle. Not wanting to startle her by starting the vehicle we patientaly waited. She came, sniffed the vehicle and for
a moment glanced at each and everyone of us. At this stage the new born baby elephant was approximately 6 meters from the mother. She then went back to him, slightly pushing him with her trunk and nudging him in our direction till he was right next to the vehicle. She slowly turned to us and as if she was asking for us to acknowledge her baby she pushed him a little closer so she can “ show off” her new little calf.
This was an unforgettable and memorable moment and will never be forgotten by any of us that witnessed this “Magic” event!!
