The Elephant and the Hat
A sunny setting on Kapama as we set out on yet another adventure. Phanuel and I were quite keen on showing the people joining us on safari the great humbleness of Elephants. The sun was rising, and we made our way to one of the famous waterways in the area as we suspected the gentle giants may come and have their 'morning coffee' at the water.
It wasn't long when all of a sudden we could clearly see the evidence of the bush bulldozers in the area. Tree branches lying in the middle of the road, large mounds of dung scattered next to the branches and trees half pushed over on the road as they pushed them over to get to the roots where there is sumptuous food and water. Phanuel, our tracker, immediately had a smile on his face as he indicated the direction in which the elephants were headed. As I turned my head in the direction he was showing, a giant baby appeared from behind the trees. Excitement! There was a mad scramble from everyone on board silently trying to grab hold of their cameras.
One of the ladies on the vehicle, in her excitement, had managed to drop her hat on the ground next to the cruiser. When suddenly a herd of elephants emerged with the baby, ever so relaxed, coming out of the bush next to us. We quickly repositioned to give the giants their respected space, but this may have been to the dismay of the hat, as it was now abandoned in the middle of a herd. Of course the one teenage elephant saw this as a great opportunity to have a toy! He came trumpeting onto the road, flapping his ears and raising his tail in his excitement while rushing to his new 'toy'. By this time we had already made our way to a safe distance from all the action, and could see the little elephant inspecting the hat with his trunk, trying to find out exactly what this strange object is.
After becoming comfortable with the hat and claiming it as his own, he raised the hat up high with his trunk as if to advertise to his mates that he's got something they don't have. Trumpeting, as if to say "Hey look what I got and you can't have it!"
And just like any other teenagers, his friends reacted and came walking down the road trying to get to the new strange element their friend was holding over them. As they came closer, the baby elephant raised his trunk higher and started back tracking, teasing them. One of the other juveniles tried to grab the hat unsuccessfully, as the cheeky little elephant holding the hat just swung his head from side to side, flinging the hat with his trunk, and throwing it a bit of a distance on the ground.
It was at this point that 'mom' decided to intervene, and a big female elephant walked in the middle of the juveniles and immediately inspected the hat, as if to safe guard her offspring, making sure there is no threat posed by the innocent hat. She sniffed the hat with her trunk, picked it up and placed it one side, and then walked off with the little ones short on her heels, not daring to disobey their mothers instruction.
It was amazing to witness such a phenomenon unfolding right in-front of us. To be able to relate to such humble beasts in manner of behaviour. We did eventually manage to get the hat back, and the lady to whom it belonged was ecstatic, as she now has an irreplaceable souvenir.
