Saturday, May 30, 2015

SOUNDS OF KENYA: Angry Elephant

I love seeing elephants when we are out on obs or at night from my tent; they are adorable and very social, so they're fun to watch.

Photo by Heidi Rogers

Eremet, chilling at the den while a herd of elephants passes by
Photo by Heidi Rogers
They are also the scariest animal in the Mara. We are pretty safe from lions and hyenas when we are in our cars or in our tents, but an elephant could do some damage to even our huge land cruisers if it got upset with us. I have always been very careful about keeping my distance from elephants on the road and never getting between a mama and her baby, but despite all my caution, an elephant managed to take Heidi and I by surprise.
This guy could do some damage

We were driving back from obs at the South den one night when we heard a huge elephant trumpet from the darkness right beside the road. Luckily he only trumpeted and flapped his ears and didn't charge; as soon as we got out of his way he lost interest. Extra luckily, I had forgotten to turn off my recording equipment at the den and I got a recording of his angry trumpet.


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