2130 Monday night....

Prepping more.  Have the International Driving Permit sorted out.  

Thought I'd post this again.  I originally wrote it on November 22, 2010, sitting in Punda Maria camp, on the north side of Kruger.  We were getting ready to drive the next morning over to Mashatu in Botswana.  We'd had an amazing experience the day before and I thought I'd share it again.

November 22, Punda Maria

Late afternoon here in Punda Maria.  Last afternoon in Kruger.  Early tomorrow morning we leave for Pont Drift on the border of Botswana and head to Mashatu.  Three nights there and back to the US.

Yesterday was an amazing day for us.  It had it all – it was fascinating, heart-warming, intense and horrifying.  We got up relatively late and headed out to drive the roads around Olifants.  It was a beautiful morning and we headed down an unpaved road that ran for a while along the Olifants River and then cut away from the river into relatively open savanna.  Aislin picked the direction and we were headed West when we spotted a giraffe.  Now giraffe are pretty common and after a day or two here, you tend not to put a lot of time into giraffe-watching.  But this one was behaving a bit unusually.  Giraffe are very observant of their surroundings and aren’t crazy about people being close.  They don’t panic, but they generally will just mosey on their way when you drive up and stop near them.  This one appeared to be alone (which is also unusual) and seemed focused on watching something in the opposite direction though it occasionally glanced our way.  It was hovering near a small tree and then we noticed the baby.  It’s also not unusual to see juvenile giraffes but this one was very small.  Then we noticed that it wasn’t steady on its feet and seemed wet and then we saw the umbilical cord hanging from the mother and we realized that this baby had just been born.  It couldn’t have been born more than a few minutes before we arrived.  Mother seemed very nervous, keeping the baby near the tree and was intent on scanning the area away from us.  She occasionally would nudge or lick the baby but was mostly focused on watching something.  This of course is when the babies are most vulnerable.  The main defense for a baby giraffe is its speed but it has to get its feet first and this baby was very wobbly.  We watched for considerable time as mother hovered around, even straddling the baby with her legs, keeping the baby near the tree.

Newborn giraffe is hidden in dense bush while her mother scans the horizon for danger.

Mother nervously tries to hold newborn giraffe behind a tree and out of sight.

Mother giraffe nervously attends to newborn.

The mother continued to seem very nervous and we speculated that she had to be concerned that there were lions or leopards around.  The baby tried to nurse but the mother still seemed too nervous and focused on keeping the baby hidden.  During this time the mother lost the afterbirth, which spilled out onto the ground.  Then we saw something moving in the brush.  It was a hyena moving between us and the mother.  The mother’s agitation seemed to increase as the hyena nosed about.  Vultures also appeared and there was a bit of a conflict as the hyena ran the vultures away and quickly consumed the afterbirth – I’d guess a terrifically nutritious miracle meal for the hyena.  The mother took a half hearted charge at the hyena who did not push its luck.  A single hyena would certainly be no match for a protective giraffe mother.

Mother giraffe passes her afterbirth.

Still though, the mother seemed nervous and kept watching over in the opposite direction and as the calf begin to become a bit more coordinated the mother struggled more to keep the baby very close and behind the tree, again straddling the newborn. 

Mother giraffe straddles newborn protectively.

We had probably spent an hour watching the mother and baby, parked along the side of this dirt road.  Several other vehicles came by and some would stop for a moment but none seemed to understand what they were seeing or the drama that was unfolding.  Most of this time, we were alone in the bush with mother and baby. 

We talked about how nervous the mother was and continued to speculate that there seemed to be more than hyenas on her mind.  All of this was difficult to photograph because of the intervening bush so I was just pulling the car forward to try and get a better view when I heard the mother let out a roar and wheel around and start to run in our direction.  I looked right and saw a lion standing, looking above the grass.  The mother was running full bore now, right in our direction, the baby following at a gallop about 5 meters to mother’s right.  We just sat still as mother went tearing past the front of our car but the baby ran through the brush and crashed into the passenger door, nearly coming right through the window into Gina’s lap, spewing snot all along the dash of our car.  Everything happened very quickly then.  The baby went down in a heap from running headlong into the car.  Mom circled around the car and to our horror began smashing the baby with her hoofs.  She lashed out ferociously at the poor baby.  All of this was happening not 5 feet from where Gina was sitting.  All I can figure was that, in her panic, when the mother saw the baby sprawled out on the ground, she thought it was a lion and struck viciously at it.  After a couple of seconds mom took off and wheeled around the car again, while the baby lay there motionless.  At this point, Gina was saying, “We gotta move!  We gotta move!” and, man, she was right.  Giraffe are, well, big, and have very powerful hoofs and we did not want to be the object of a giraffe attack so I pulled the forward about 40 meters and pivoted around so we could see what was happening.  The mother had moved across the road and the first lion had reached the baby and was just standing over it, probably disbelieving its luck and trying to understand what was happening.  Another lion showed up and a third.  The baby started to rouse itself and attempted to get up, calling for its mother but the lions grabbed it by the throat and easily held her down.  She seemed to quickly lose consciousness and more lions appeared, standing over her.  I lost track of where the mother was at this point and I’m guessing there’s a point where she realized the hopelessness of the situation and moved away, out of reach of the lions.  

The first lioness reaches the newborn giraffe after it collided with our car and then was stomped by its mother.

Lionesses watch us while standing over the unconscious newborn giraffe.

Newborn tries to rouse itself while more lions arrive.

Lions drag baby giraffe across the road toward shade.

After surveying the scene, one of the lions grabbed the baby by the throat and began dragging her across the road into some dense brush, into shade and away from the road.  By this time, lions were streaming in, like from nowhere.  We didn’t count them, but there must have been about 10 of them – adult females and a group of cubs of various ages.  The baby actually cried once more in the bushes but then it was over but the sound of lions eating, a mixture of growling, fighting, purring, crunching.  It’s a noisy affair. 

The aftermath. 

It wasn’t easy to see what was going on in the brush, and difficult to photograph and honestly, we were all still pretty shaken.  Two more vehicles arrived on the scene but it never became the usual Kruger lion scrum and obviously the other observers had no insight into the drama that had just unfolded.  We stayed for about an hour and then it was pretty much over.  A baby giraffe, while a big animal, isn’t much of a meal for 10 lions and they were getting ready to sleep it off when we decided to head back.

As I said, we were all pretty shaken by the experience.  I think Aislin was frightened by the ferocity of the mother and felt very vulnerable when she was circling in her panic and rage.  She was terrified that the mother would kick into the car, and that was not an unreasonable fear.  I know that Gina was very much affected.  I think it was especially hard because we’d bonded with the little guy and spent much time (really, its whole life) enjoying the miracle of new life.  And the baby was running right to her and I think for Gina it was as if the baby was pleading for help.  And of course, Gina is a mother and I think it was very hard to watch the pain and fear of the mother giraffe.   The gestation period of a giraffe is long – something like 14 months if I remember correctly – and it’s terrible to think that it would all go away so quickly.

For me, the thing that was hardest was the sense that we somehow, inadvertently, might have played a role in the drama.  We all want to watch nature here.  That’s why we traveled half way across the world.  We want to be in a wild place and watch life play out.  I think we were all prepared to see a kill and watch an animal die if that’s what happened.  But the last thing we would want would be to feel that we somehow tilted the game.  If we hadn’t been there, would the baby have escaped?  We’ll never know.  On the one hand, baby giraffes gain their legs fairly quickly and (as we read when we got back), their primary defense is speed.  Young giraffes can be faster than adults and can outdistance lions, which are good for only short bursts of speed.  On the other hand, the baby was wobbly right up until mother began to flee and there’s no guarantee that she could have outrun those lions.  And, she ran smack into the side of an inanimate object.  I reckon that it could have been a tree or a boulder.  Who knows.  And for me, it was particularly horrifying to watch the mother attack her own baby.  To see, and to hear that, was awful.  I hope that she carries no realization of that.

Until that time, the girls had only seen a couple of brief glimpses of lions.  I’ve told them that I think the place is crawling with lions but you just don’t see them unless they happen to flop down somewhere close to a road.  I’m pretty sure they believe me now.  No one seems interested in getting out of the car to relieve their bladders now.

An amazing day for us and we were able to talk or think about little else yesterday.  In some ways, I think we’re still depleted from the experience.

Today, we left late, did a leisurely drive up to Punda Maria.  None of us were looking for any sort of intense adventure today.  The country is pretty here. 

And tomorrow, we get up early and head up the road, out of Kruger National Park, and over to Botswana.

2140, Saturday night....

Prepping for the trip.  Six days now to go.  A bit of a thrash today.  Several things I thought were settled and ready, weren't.  All resolved except the International Drivers Permit.  I was looking through paperwork from 2010 and found my IDP from that trip and realized that it had never even occurred to me to obtain one.  I don't know that it's a big deal at all - really the intent seems to be to translate the codes on your driver's license into many different languages so that if the police stop you for something, they'll be able to make sense of your license.  And so, it wouldn't seem to have any real utility in an English speaking country and no one's ever asked to see mine in the past.  But I called Hertz at the J'burg airport and they recommended that I bring it because, they say, the police would likely ask for it if I got stopped for something.  Sigh.  There's time to get it done, but it's just one more thing to do.

This year's trip will be similar to the 2010 trip, but different too.  I'll depart on November 3, arrive in Johannesburg on the 4th and then fly to Hoedspruit on the 5th to connect with Albie Venter.  Albie is an accomplished wildlife photographer and guide and I'm going to be able to work with him for about a week in Kruger.  I have done a lot of photography but most of what I've learned about wildlife shooting is from trial and error.  It will be very nice to work with someone of Albie's caliber.  I expect to learn a lot.  If you'd like to check out Albie's work, please go to his website - http://www.africa-unlocked.com/index.php

Albie asked me if I'd write up a bit about the experience I had in Kruger in November, 2009, when I lucked upon an amazing scene.  I'd been driving north from Satara camp toward Letaba.  It was a stinking hot day and, as it was approaching noon and most animals were content with settling under some scrap of shade, I was heading back for some lunch and a rest before heading back.  I stopped on the bridge over the Olifants River to get out to stretch my legs.  The cool thing about this bridge (and a few others) is that is one of the few places where it's deemed safe to get out and stretch your legs.  If you're not familiar with Kruger, one of the beauties of this park is that you can drive freely just about anywhere where there is a road.  But you have to stay in your vehicle except for certain designated areas, such as the rest camps.  The bridges are long enough that I think it is felt that as long as you stay in the middle of the bridge (and it's marked by painted lines), it's safe to get out.  And these bridges are good areas for wildlife viewing because there is often a lot of activity around the rivers.

On this day, there were a group of elephants in the water, cooling off, and a number of the juveniles were just having a blast in the water.  They were rolling and spraying each other, jumping on each other's backs - just having a time.  It was an irresistible occasion for photography.  So much joy!

I'd spent I'd estimate close to an hour photographing these guys.  Understand that at any given point, there were a handful of people standing on the bridge.  Most people would come and watch for a short while and then get into their air conditioned car to go look for something more dramatic.  But, just as I was about to pack it in myself, I heard someone from the north end of the bridge call out, "Hey, this one's having a baby!"  I grabbed my cameras and ran down to that end of the bridge.  And I began to see something I never thought I'd have the privilege of seeing in my life.  When I first arrived, I looked down on a smallish elephant, standing in the water with a large amniotic sac protruding out of her.

Amniotic sac appears

Amniotic sac appears while nearby juvenile continues to
play in the river

At this point, there was no doubt what was going on here....  And in a few seconds, the baby splashed into the water amidst a great amount of trumpeting from the new mother.

Newborn baby drops into the water,
surrounded by amniotic sac.  Note
the older female nearby with the juvenile
who seems confused or frightened.

Mother seems confused as baby thrashes in
the river while 'aunt' looks on.

The river here is obviously not very deep - I'd guess that it is something in the neighborhood of 0.5 meters deep.  But the baby cannot stand and as it thrashes in the water it seems that it could be in some danger of not being able to keep its head above water.  The mother seems confused at first.  But quickly a nearby female - larger and I'd presume older and perhaps more experienced - seemed to step in and assume command.  I think of her as an older 'aunt', though obviously I can't know the relationships between these elephants.  She began to take charge and work with her trunk and her foot to support the baby and to keep the baby's head above water.

Mother and 'aunt' work to support the baby's head and keep it out of the water.

Mother and 'aunt' continue to try and hold the baby's head out of the water while the amniotic sac floats away downstream.

Even as mother and aunt worked frantically to support the baby, many others from this group of elephants began to gather around and form a protective phalanx, encircling the new addition to their extended family.

Baby continues to thrash helplessly in the water while many of the other elephants formed a protective phalanx around the newborn.  Note that even the mother has turned away from the baby, leaving only the aunt to continue to try and prop the baby's head up.

Aunt continues to support the baby's head.

Both mother and aunt work to hold baby's head out of the water.

Adult uses both trunk and leg to help support the baby and keep its head above the water.  Note that baby's ears are still 'glued' back on its head!

According to my image data, it was about 25 to 30 minutes after birth before the newborn began to gain its legs in any sort of a reliable way, and even that was not without incident!

Baby's first few steps were not without incident.  Luckily 'auntie' was there to intervene.

After perhaps 40 minutes, the baby was able to ambulate in mother's company fairly reliably, and mother steered baby to the river on the other side (the west side) of the bridge, separating her from the rest of the group.  The mother actually seemed to complain loudly when auntie approached and auntie backed off.  Something was going on there in terms of their relationships.  I don't know if the mother was basically telling auntie to 'Butt out!' but I am certain that it was auntie who seemed to know what to do and did most of the work in those first few critical minutes.

Once baby began to ambulated fairly reliably in the water, baby took the lead....

Mother made several attempts to steer baby out of the river, including this effort to nudge the baby out onto the bank.

Mother attempts to nudge baby out of the river, unsuccessfully.

Mother later attempted to help engineer the bank to make it easier for baby to walk out of the river....

Mother engineers the bank in an attempt to make it easier for baby to leave the water.

Even so, the baby's first attempt was a failure and baby actually tumbled off of the bank back into the water and seemed to be in no hurry to leave, leading mother for another run around the river.

Baby takes mother for one more romp around the river.

At this point, I'd been standing in the sun on this bridge for perhaps two hours.  The place had become packed with people - I don't know whether people phone friends or what, but the bridge was crowded with people and cars, and I decided it was time to head back.  My hands and my knees were shaking.  I knew that I'd had the privilege of seeing something extraordinary.

I have since discovered that there are very few photographed accounts of African elephant births in the wild and I can't find any reference to births in water.  To me, the most interesting question is, why?  Why drop a baby into a river?  Was there some reason for this?  Obviously, it's easier for a newborn to stand if the water helps to support its weight.  On the other hand, the newborn could not stand for some time and during that time seemed to be in real danger of drowning.  I'll share my impression, but bear in mind that I'm not a trained naturalist, let alone an expert in elephant behavior.  But I got the impression that the mother was young and inexperienced.  She was certainly smaller than 'auntie'.  She seemed completely at a loss as to what to do when the baby first hit the water and, in my opinion, the intervention of the aunt was critical to keeping the baby from drowning in those first few minutes.  Is it possible that this was a first delivery for this cow?  Is it possible that she didn't realize what was happening, and what was going to happen, when she stepped into the river on that blazing hot day?  I'd be very interested in your views on the question.

I do know that I left the bridge that afternoon and my hands and my knees were shaking.  I knew I'd seen something extraordinary.  I also know now that there are people who've studied elephants their entire lives - heroes of mine - who've never had the opportunity that I was given while driving around Kruger in my little rental car.  The bridge over the Olifants is a place I will always remember and I often think of that little guy, who will now be approaching his third birthday, and wonder how he's doing.