Friday 14th February 2014

It was my turn to Back-up the morning walk, always a good start to the day. We drove up to the sandveld for a walk at Palm Springs, right from the start there were lots of signs of elephants. This followed through with a sighting of two bulls at thirty metres. The visibility wasn’t great but that didn’t matter, well at least not to me, it was my first elephant on foot as a qualified Back-up. The encounter was good, the wind was in our favour, we had a number of escape routes if needed and most importantly the elephants were unaware of our presence.

As we made our way back to the vehicle we passed through the area where Bruce had been charged by a elephant cow just last year. He talked us through the whole incident and it was clear how dangerous these animals can be. The event also demonstrated how important the role of Back-up is, this was a stark reminder that this isn’t a game.

The rest of the day was made up of maintenance and a number of drives up to the main gate for various errands. The drive whilst long and bumpy is always a pleasure, especially when you get a good sighting such as today’s huge elephant bull crossing the road.