Elephant Monday...

(As I write I hear lions roaring outside the camp.  The time now is 8:21pm.  Last night the roars were so close and so loud that they echoed off the buildings!  The best part about camping!)

Today seemed to be like an "elephant monday" in that no less than 3 elephants objected to my presence, all of them at various ages.  They were just being cranky, I guess.  It was Monday, after all.  

The weather was a lot cooler with cloud cover most of the day.  The light wind also had a bit of a cooling effect.  So why the elephants seemed a bit unsettled is beyond me.

Objection 1:  The little guy below was feeling a bit protective.  His "siblings" were following behind and he was doing what any older brother would have done.  You can see the typical "foot-up" and "ears wide" posture.  There was also a little "dust throwing" and "head shaking".

Objection 2:  The next guy was a *whole* lot bigger and had more attitude.  He displayed all the classic posturing.  After the second display, I decided to move on.  Having an elephant parked on my bonnet was not on my list of things to do...

Objection 3:  The next two guys were large bulls and they knew *exactly* what they were capable of.  I came across them at the worst possible place.  There is a low level bridge that serves as the link to cross the river and join the main road.  If I was to go around them it would have taken nearly an hour and since the gates close at 6pm and it was already 5:20pm and because I didnt feel like getting a fine, I decided to wait...

Fifteen minutes later the bull in the road (he had only one tusk) was going nowhere.  When I had first approached him he showed some of the classic "I'm the boss" behaviours.  So I thought I would try some reverse psychology.  I idled closer towards him until I saw displacement behaviour, or, signs of him being uncomfortable.  He decided to then posture a bit and assert himself and that started him walking towards me.  And then he would stop and resume feeding.  So I repeated it again, and gained a few metres and then again.  All the while I might add, I was feeling rather nervous!  If he charged me, I would be reversing uphill in the slowest gear possible.  If he decided to do some damage there was no way I was going to get away from him...

This one was taken where he was standing on the bank directly above me.  In good light it would have been spectacular!

And then I still had this guy to contend with at the bottom of the bridge.  But fortunately he wasn't as concerned about owning the road as his mate...  I put my lights on and revved the engine and rolled down the slope.  He took off along the river bed...

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The rest of the day belonged to the buffalo.  They came up with a few new behaviour poses that would make me very nervous if I was on foot.

Head high, this guy was evaluating my risk factor....

This guy gave me the creeps.  He just stared at me with the wisdom of his years.  He knew exactly what he was capable of...

This guys horns had me intrigued.  They had a sweeping-backward design.  I haven't seen it before.

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Here are some other snaps...

This glossy startling was eating seeds on the green bush in front of him.

Two oxpeckers on the back of an impala.  Nature's version of public transport...

Impala ram taking a break

Young nyala doe

Still trying to get a nice pic of a lilac breasted roller.  This one landed, grabbed an insect but took off before I could do more.

An interesting pose alters the traditional view of a kudu ram.  His chin was raised and this produced the nice spiral effect of the horns.

This little guy caught my attention because he wasn't fanning his ears.  I think he had somehow hurt his ear muscles because this ear was locked in this position and the other ear was held at its normal resting position against the head.  He was eating and giving himself a dustbath but I somehow got the feeling he was not feeling well...  I hope he comes right.