Up close and personal at Africa on Foot

Our guests enjoyed an unforgettable elephant sighting the other day when their morning walk turned into one very close encounter with Africa’s largest land mammal. A herd of elephants was spotted about 300m away, and under ranger Greg’s expert leadership, they managed to sit down and enjoy watching the elephants drink and play at the waterhole…getting as close as 3m!

A wide-eyed ‘wooow’ was the general response to seeing these incredible photos taken of Africa on Foot guests at an unforgettable elephant sighting. The excited remarks and breathless story telling of that morning’s walking safari was all the talk at the breakfast table; but we (the unlucky ones) only really felt the impact of such a wonderful safari moment when we got to see Luan’s photos, taken from the nThambo Tree Camp game viewer.

Close encounter with elephants at Africa on Foot

Greg, Africa on Foot’s Zimbabwean ranger, is passionate about leopards, camera traps, safari slang, and bush walks. Every morning (weather depending) our rangers take guests out on a Big 5 walking safari, which lasts 2-3 hours, and aims to introduce guests to the finer details of the Lowveld bush, although there is the chance of meeting the bigger members of the wild. On this particular occasion, the group met the biggest members of the wild and enjoyed this unbeatable safari moment.

Read what Greg had to say about the experience, and how to expertly handle this kind of close encounter.

Guests enjoying a front row seat at Africa on Foot

Not 15 minutes into the walk one of the members of the group spotted the elephants about 300m off the road. After a quick briefing with the group, I checked the wind direction and came up with an approach plan. We entered the bush to get a closer look. We managed to get maybe 60m from them and watched them feeding. They are such magnificent creatures! I realised they were heading in the direction of a small dam. We left the sighting where they were and walked about 1.5 km around them to get to the dam, positioned ourselves on a high point with little risk of anything happening and waited for the magic to happen.

The elephants are peacefully quenching their thirst

When the elephants arrived at the dam they did seem to notice us as they stopped for a second, but by no means were they bothered by our presence, which was fantastic! Obviously the point of viewing animals is not to disturb them in any way and they allowed us to view them happily.

As you can see in the pictures there is a very steep bank between the elephants and us, which is impossible for an elephant to climb. They could have come along the wall, but they were as I said, not bothered by the group. I chose this position because of the wind, which was coming straight from the elephants towards us. All these factors made our position the best possible. 

One of the elephants walks closer

The youngster that came right up to the wall was just inspecting, he could see us sitting there but couldn’t smell us so was trying to decide whether we were a threat or not. He ended up being probably 3m from us.

This young elephant comes for a closer inspection

The guests were very relaxed. Believe me, when a guest is uncomfortable they let you know! This is also a point I make with them, that if at any point they feel uncomfortable they must let me know so that I can get them out of there safely. This is very important, as you never know how one might react to a particular situation especially when frightened.

Satisfied there is no danger, the elephant moves off

I was fortunate enough to have a small group, which allows us to be able to have these encounters with animals because we look less intimidating towards the animals. Before we set out on each walking safari we have strict rules, which are laid out with our guests and it’s vitally important that everyone understands each point. Before the elephants arrived I emphasised those points, and made sure everyone understood. Sit still, be quiet, and enjoy what the bush has offered us.

Loving life in the Klaserie!

It was a very humbling and exciting encounter. Once they had finished drinking, the youngsters all started playing, rolling around in the sand, and jumping on each other. It was fantastic! Amazing!

Two young elephants entertaining themselves

The beauty of the bush is that you wake up everyday with absolutely no idea what the day will bring, you can find nothing, you can find plenty, or you can have the most incredible encounter with a group of ele’s. One thing is for sure though; we will never forget this experience.