Amazing experience for our guests where we let a Matriarch Elephant get close enough so she could give us a little charge.
Experience is everything, so as a qualified experience field guide in South Africa, we can share amazing animal videos and sightings.
This video I filmed in Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve.

Covid-19 Virtual Safaris – Elephant Facts, a Bush story and video. A bush story of our daily life living and working in the bush in our 20’s, Elephant walks into our “bush village” to make use of our newly revamped swimming pool.
As we all know Tourism globally has been devastated due to Corona virus and we at Tim Brown Tours have turned to “Virtual Safaris” to keep the interest up. So, let us begin with the Bush story!

It was another hot day and between open vehicle safari game drives for our guests we sometimes needed a snooze and some rest. The hours are long, and we would work 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off. I always remember that in the last two weeks our tanks were low, and we would be running on fumes due to being so exhausted. This most probably was that our jobs were so enjoyable, we always gave it all we had to make our guests Safari experience a memorable one. These days I look back very fondly on and remember sharing moments with my colleagues that few humans get to experience. The bonds between game rangers or field guides are so strong that you can meet years later and reminisce for days, sharing stories over a beer and a braai. (Just not with this Corona virus and lock down!)
Today we focus on Elephants and these amazing creatures which roam our grasslands and Acacia thornveld in the African bush.

One day after an amazing safari with our guests we headed back to our Khaya’s (rooms) for a mid-morning rest. A good friend and I over the past few weeks had been cleaning the old swimming pool that was now a haven for Mosquitos. There was a small amount of water, more like sludge in the bottom of the pool which was not the home of several frog species. After removing the last of the Platannas(frogs) we cleaned out the last of the sludge. We decided during our leave from work to get a pool cleaner, some chemicals and returned to refill the swimming pool.
You can imagine this was a great hang out in the middle of the day for staff members, but it also became a frequent visitation spot for two bull Elephants. They obviously would much prefer the fresh water of the swimming pool than the last of the muddy waters in the river systems.
Truth be told we would not have minded their frequent visits if they at least drank all the water they sucked up out of the swimming pool. Sadly, they would splash it outside the swimming pool and every two days we would have to refill the pool using an old hosepipe one of us swiped from our parents’ home in the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAtk_vww3P8&feature=youtu.be

One of these days I was sitting on my bed with the curtains open and noticed one of these bull Elephants wondering into our village. He was heading towards the swimming pool again. This time I decided to play a joke on the Elephant and grabbed my camera (which had a video mode). I went outside and allowed him to approach the pool before putting the camera down and chasing him away from the swimming pool.
Of course, most people watching the video will call me an idiot or say I was nasty to the Elephant but living side by side with these amazing creatures you build a relationship with them to the point of understanding one another. It is moments like these that we share in the African bush that we feel so blessed to have shared with one another and of course the animals which became our family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ONjq6_Tjsk

Virtual Safari - Quick facts on Elephants
1. Elephants are one of few mammals that seem to show emotion. I have been fortunate to witness an Elephant “Funeral”. If you would like me to publish the video, let me know.
2. Elephants can consume anything between 150-300 Kgs of plant material daily.
3. An average an Elephants skin in 2 centimetres thick, which is 0.5 cm less than a Rhino.
4. Elephants have 6 sets of Teeth for their lifetime. They work on a conveyer belt system moving from back to front over a period of 10 years. So, at the age of 50 they will be on their last set of teeth.
5. Elephants DO NOT get drunk on fermenting Marula fruit!


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