incredible elephant sighting from game drive four (morning) (balule nature reserve)

This was arguably the best elephant sighting - until later this day. But truly, this was something incredible.

We were driving through the bush early in the morning, just about at sunrise. We suddenly heard some upset elephants. Shrieking, hooting, and grunting - and not far away. Our driver Kjell and guide Sipho turned around and started toward it. We spotted a group of maybe 8 elephants. But that was just the beginning.

Elephants on the move! Our camera was still set to a long exposure from the night before.

These few continued on their tramp through the bush, munching on grass, leaves and branches. But we could still hear more elephants. We drove around in a loop toward where it looked like these elephants were heading, and saw an amazing sight. Two large herds of elephants had met in the bush, and were in various arguments sorting out babies and who should go with whom. We were in the midst of nearly 60 elephants, all busy going about their morning of eating, walking, dousing themselves and their babies with dust, and shrieking at one another once in a while. It was a beautiful moment to be a part of! Enjoy the plethora of photos we took.

sniffing us out

Just a lot of elephants!

Getting baby some of that dirt!

Trying to keep up!