African elephants – Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
Tarangire National Park covers an area of 2,850 square kilometers which places it as the sixth largest national park in Tanzania.
The park is famous for its huge number of elephants, baobab trees and tree-climbing lions. There are plenty of birds and other animals like zebras.
On the first morning after we arrived we were taken on a safari ride, it was not long before we encountered several large herds of elephants.
African elephants
The elephant herds consisted of large males, females and their young calves. The elephants were grazing on the abundant green grass and tree foliage on either side of the track and playing and rollicking in a huge marshy lake which bordered one side of the track.
The teenage elephants were enjoying play fighting, immersing themselves in the lake and spraying each other with water from their trunks. It was a delight to sit there in the safety of our safari vehicle and observe and take numerous photos and videos of their antics.
While we were sitting there one of the females with calf in tow and closely followed by other members of the herd decided to leave the cool waters of the lake to check us out. Once they had cleared the rear of our safari vehicle one of the male elephants decided we needed a much closer inspection.
He ventured within two metres of the vehicle and gave us the once over. He fully opened his massive ears as if to ensure he captured any sounds of danger coming from the vehicle.
We must have assured him we were on no threat for instead of flapping his ears, which would be a warning for us to move on he lowered his ears and slowly moved away from the vehicle.
After we received the seal of approval from the male elephant the herd seemed to relax, so we maintained our position and continued to observe and enjoy a day in the life of these magnificent animals.
