Probably not a real shock that we only saw african elephants in Africa. Not a single indian elephant to be seen. What was surprising is how close to the minibus some of these elephants got. They certainly did not evince any great fear of humans. Granted, the mothers did not seem to have any great desire to subject their 'little' babies to the attentions of a dozen minibuses. But fear did not seem to be utmost in their minds. Maybe 'cause they were bigger than the minibuses...weighing in at 6 tons?

We saw a few solitary males and groups of females and babies with as many as 10 or so at a time. We even saw a few at night at the watering hole and they trumpeted. A couple of the males were limping. It was unclear if they had gotten into a fight or had simply stepped in a hole and twisted an ankle.

Elephants will eat pretty much anything. Trees with 2-3" thorns? Sure! Why not? It was painful watching them munch on these things. They do a pretty good job of destroying and replanting the landscape. Some vegetation actually spreads by being ingested by the elephant and coming out with the dung . . . natural fertilizer.

I know, you are all wondering how you tell how old a baby elephant is. The general rule is that they can walk underneath their mother's stomach until they are a year old. So now you know. Just for your information, a baby elephant weighs a mere 250 pounds. So I could be a baby elephant!