It is important to know proper etiquette when self driving among ellies. First you need to know that elephants love to eat and run,
and they love to cross roads.
They especially love eating and running whilst crossing roads.
But more than all these things combined, they love to block roads. What do you do when an elephant blocks the road?
You wait.
The worst thing of course is to inadvertently block the path of an irritable, lone bull elephant in musk, in pursuit of his disinterested, and fast disappearing, beloved.
What do you do when this happens?
Pray you can get the heck out of his way.
Elephants love to knock over trees, and they even love to try and knock over trees, they can’t knock over.
What do you do when this happens?
Watch, until the ellie gets really frustrated at the tree, and then get the heck out of his way.
The biggest tip to keep in mind when driving among wild ellies?
Do whatever the ellie wants you to do, cuz they really are so much bigger than you!
Cheers to you from South Africa’s intelligent, incredible, irreplaceable Pachyderms!
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Nice Cindy, thank you.
Have a wonderful week Ranu!
These photos make me feel like I’m right there seeing the elephants along with you Cindy! You captured so much detail (e.g., their skin texture). The one with the elephant facing the viewer is my favorite. And yep, animals do have their own sense of personal space and we need to give them that.
Not sure if you heard about the recent tragic story about an American tourist (Game of Thrones special effects editor) getting mauled by a lioness out in South Africa recently… the lioness jumped right into the car through an open window. So sad. Please be safe out there Cindy! <3 ~Lynn
Yes, I did read about her and it is a horrible, tragic situation. She was in a lion breeding facility and tourist place, where the lions are enclosed and not free, and tourists drive through to see them in these up close enclosures. Her window was open when the lion approached directly next to her. I have seen a video of a lioness opening a car door when a tourist didn’t lock their door. So glad you like the facing ellie. I wasn’t sure about including that pic but it was part of the real story!
Cheers to you Lynn and hope all is well~
Yes, I encountered the video of the lioness opening the car door as well. It was very surprising in one way but, judging from how curious our own domestic cats are (boyfriend’s cat tried has been trying to turn the doorknob ever since seeing us open doors multiple times), I can see this happening. Despite wild cats and domestic cats being so different in size, they still exhibit similar behaviors!
My cat opened the door all the time. We would put him in the den. He promptly opened the door! 😉
Incredible photos – thank you!
Thank you more for appreciating them!
Wonderful beings!
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe them!
Yes, getting so close to him is already intimidating. I would wait and let he does things for sure.
It’s always best to remember the ellies are the boss! 😉
Your pictures captured this so well, that I felt intimidated by ..
They definitely command your complete respect and I happily gave it to them!
Splendid! Just splendid 🙂
They are magnificent! Thank you for appreciating them~
Wow, these are great captures, Cindy. You must be having such a wonderful time – Hope you keep staying on the ‘good’ side of the ellies! 😉
We got charged once on our prior trip, not when we were driving because we are very respectful of the ellies, but when a ranger was, and he purposely antagonized the ellie. Not something we wanted to repeat!
Why on earth would the ranger do that? He must have been crazy with a death wish!
He had some mental problems. Most rangers are wonderful people.
Amazing!
They are just astonishing up close in the wild!
These are stunning captures of ellies. Sounds like lots of waiting. 🙂 I can’t imagine what is like to be there and see what you saw. So in awe. Thank you for the post, Cindy. <3
Thank you more for the kind appreciation Amy. We have gotten delayed and up close and personal with all sorts of pachyderms, rhino, huge herds of cape buffalo, hippos. It is like nothing else in the world~ <3
A lovely post which I enjoyed very much. I love elephants.
That makes two of us! Thank you~
Wonderful pictures!
Mil grazi!
Oh, and the same applies if you block the way between mother and child, even an adult one: get the heck out of there. Says someone with a few last minute escapes 🙂 Gorgeous photos, Cindy!
Yes! We got in between a mother hippo and her baby on land. I have never seen two more terrified animals and mama was seriously dangerous. Lions take advantage of these situations.
Incredible shots, Cindy. Powerful and enormous animals. I believe they are in charge of the ball field and they win automatically. I’m glad you are playing it safe. I take it you are doing your own driving. 🐘🐘🐘
I am amazed at your ellie icons!!! Love them! And you are right. They are basically in charge of everything as far as I am concerned!
Great pics, again. With tusks that size on ellies that size I would clear out of their way in a hurry. 🙂
Yep, there is not much point in arguing! 😉
Nicely done Cindy. Indeed.
Regards
Thank you very much & cheers~
All sounds like solid advice to me, excellent images!
Solid advice for very solid critters! 😉
Wonderful Elephant photos Cindy! Yes I agree they deserve a lot of respect! They can squish us like a bug! tee hee! Hugz Lisa and Bear
They can and wonderful that they don’t! I was just reading the extensive history of dolphins rescuing humans in trouble in the sea and yet humans butcher them with nets and round ups. Elephants are the same. Kinder than many people!
I wished man kind didn’t do such horrible things to beautiful creatures!!
Yes. Me too~
Nice!
Merci!
I love the close-ups, of course, but that final shot is so lovely, so poetic. I think I love elephants.
They actually love you back. Did you read, “The Elephant Whisperer?” I highly recommend it if you love elephants~
Nice photos. Whatever you do – – – don’t try to tickle the ivories!
Oh, I hadn’t thought of that! 😉
Marvelous! ʕ(⊙‿⊙)ʔ
Merci beaucoup mon ami!
De rien!
<3
They have an expression of such dignity. I would find quite amazing to witness so many elephants crossing the river. Thanks Cindy, elephants are among my dearest animals.
They are so full of dignity. You are quite right about this and about the thrill in seeing them in large herds crossing the rivers!
Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog.
Awww, thank you so much for supporting the so deserving elephants!
Impressive photos, Cindy. I love these! Elephants are so awesome. btw, I’ve never seen an elephant, except for at the zoo, so I’m glad you’ve shared these.
They are so impressive in the wild. All these large matriarch led herds and lone bulls. Just such impressive creatures. So happy you appreciated them Lori!
These elephants are phenomenal and your trip must be one for the record books. Thanks for taking us all along with you on this wild ride.
peace, Linda
Peace to you Linda and thank you more for coming along with me. It makes the experience so much richer to share it with people like you.
Awww cute post and lovely pics as always 😍 enjoying seeing your south african adventures! 😀😎
It is a place just built for daily adventure, for all creatures, great & small~
That is so cool! Any Hyena or Lions seen?
Yes, to both. Multiple sightings. A very unusual sighting of hyenas mating at night that I got photos of. And a leopard sleeping on a tree! All the big five and so much more!
Cheetahs oh my!
Love the photos…. now if only more tourist understood the ellie rules we would not see them being shot because of ignorance of the driver. … you’ve got some great shots
Exactly! I saw some evidence of this ignorance and the results are just as you say. We wittnessed this first hand on our first trip~
Wouldn’t dream of arguing with one or crossing the path of another 😀
Smart woman! <3
I’ll keep all this in mind for when we go to Africa 🙂
Beautiful photos as usual. I especially love the final 2 of the whole herd.
Alison
I love the herd views. I have lots more of them of course. Views of huge numbers of them coming single file to the river and lining up like dominos along the bank to drink~
Wonderful pictures Cindy! I do love elephants – at least I love seeing them and learning about them. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you more for loving ellies Dor!
Amazing! What an opportunity to see them so close – they are beautiful.
Thank you, they are beautiful, peaceful and mighty! We need them on our planet~
You are taking us on quite an adventure, Cindy! Thank you 😀
I am just very happy that you are coming along!
Cindy, it must have been an awesome experience , to see elephants in the wild. They are so beautiful. Hugs! Veraiconica
Hugs back to you my friend and yes it was especially fun to drive up to Oliphants and live surrounded by all these herds who come daily to the river to drink~
Amazing captures and good advice! Doi whatever the elephant wants. 🙂
Yep, that seemed the only possiblity to me! 🙂
Great pictures. It does look like you had a good time. You’re very lucky to find elephants roaming wild in London. I’ve been looking for years, I’ve only found the pink ones. 😀
Cracking up……..You just have to look very carefully in St. James Park!
I’ve had a squirrel climb my leg in St James’s. I hope they don’t teach the elephants.
You are constantly cracking me up Graham…….tThat would be quite a predicament. Maybe you should carry a mouse with you at all times. Heffelumps (not woozles) are scared to death of meeses! 😉 A blogger reminded me of this……
This is great and I love coming here because i see and learn about things I would into see elsewhere.
Great shots and thanks for sharing.
This was our second trip to Africa. You would not believe how many how to manuals and you tube videos my husband and I watched before the first trip to learn how to drive safely among ellies, rhinos and cape buffalo!
Schöne Fotos. Wolfgang
Guten Tag Wolfgang und vielen dank mein Freund~
Reblogged this on Art, animals, and the earth.
Thank you so much for your advocacy Sharon for all creatures great & small!
Just amazing photos Cindy I had to chuckle as I read your very good advice. Where you ever threatened?
Never on this trip by anything except a male baboon that chased me away. On our first trip though we were charged by an elephant. This happened when were on one our few game drives with a ranger who was a problematic person. (Most rangers are wonderful people.) This ranger drove his rover right up to a raging solo bull in musk and antagonized him by inching closer and closer despite the ellie’s increasing fury. Finally the ellie charged. The ranger tried to outrun him on the dirt road but the road ended so he pulled the rover around, made us jump out and cocked his rifle and aimed at the ellie. The ellie had a healed bullet hole in his ear. He saw the rifle, pulled up to a stop, and wheeled around and walked away. I need to emphasize this incident was entirely the ranger’s fault. He ignored every sign the ellie gave us to leave him in peace. I was really terrified he was going to shoot the elephant and I doubt I could have tolerated it.
I will never forget two things about this incident, the way the ellie’s ears stood out and flapped as he charged at us, and the way my son’s face looked while it was happening. He looked full of wonder at the amazing elephant. They are such amazing creatures.
.
That was an amazing and terrifying experience Cindy, and one you will never forget. What a stupid man that ranger was. I hope he was dismissed from service. Thank goodness the elephant stopped it would’ve been so sad if it had been shot.
It would have been unbelieveably traumatizing and senseless~
Your blog posts always makes me smile. Hope you are doing great my friend. Love, Isabella
Awww, so glad! I am home now and already missing Africa~
🙂 I hope you have had a wonderful trip.
It was fabulous!! Thanks….
Great photos Cindy! Best time of year to be in the park (and September /October) – as the bush grass is not as high as in summer, so you can see lots!
So glad you are enjoying the trip here!
Are you going to the coast or the mountains too?
Yes, this was our second trip, both at this time of year. The other benefit is that in May the park is not full of tourists and you have many places to yourself with the critters. We are home now, but were there for three weeks. We stayed in and then around the park as we come mostly for the animals and the incredible scenery. We missed Blyde Canyon and have never been to Cape Town or the coast. We wanted to go to Mauritis, but we had been traveling for six weeks and it was time to come home.
Sounds like you had a great trip, Cindy! Yep, can understand six weeks away and home calls! 🙂
It does, but I already miss Africa!
Gosh, impressive images and strong words, Cindy! They are gentle animals, it must be great feeling to see them in their nature and protected habitat 🙂
They are peaceable and gentle creatures if you respect them, and it is wonderful to be around them, especially father north in the park up by the Oliphants River where they congregate in great herds.
Excellent… 🙂
Thank you my friend~
Just a thought – if you’re going back to O.R. Tambo airport, you will be passing pretty close to us (we’re in Centurion). If you have any time available, we could meet up? Be great to meet you. My email :robmcshane7@gmail.com (can give you more details there!).
Oh my gosh, I wish I got this earlier, before we just left. I would so love to meet a South African blogger, mostly because I want to absorb your knowledge of this incredible place. As soon as I leave, I already miss it, and think about coming back~
Great! We’ll see you on your next trip, yes? ! Open invitation – anytime. We would love to meet you! 🙂 with all its problems it really is a fantastic country – with so much potential for an exciting future!
Fantastic animals! And once again beautiful photos.
Awwww, thank you & cheers too~
Quel beau reportage ! Merci pour le partage !
Merci beaucoup pour votre type appreciation! <3
Fascinating ! Thank you for sharing your great photos !
Thank you more for appreciating them!
Brilliant shots as usual Cindy.
Awwww, thanks so much & cheers to you Ronnie~
Simply WOW images. What close-ups … but the last two of the group in the water were heart warming.
Yes I have some other shots of them from a distance that I will post in the future. This was from the porch of our rondavel looking down over the Olifants River. Huge herds would come out of the bush, often in single file and line up like dominos to drink. Often they would cross the river as you see now. Giraffe, Cape Buffalo, Zebra, everything came to the river to drink and seeing this for several days was a highlight of my life.
Truly fascinating … and I’m sure a wonderful trip!
So much better sharing it with friends like you!