Botswana's amazing elephants

There are over 100,000 elephants in northern Botswana and from August to December, as the dry season advances, they gather in vast herds near permanent water sources. At this time the Chobe and Linyanti rivers can be besieged with elephants drinking hundreds of gallons of water, cavorting and rolling in the refreshing rivers, hosing themselves down.

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Elephants in northern Botswana move long distances, migrating across 5,000 square kilometres, or more during the wetter summer months and communicate over long distances using infrasound inaudible to the human ear. Easier to hear are the low rumbles as you sit in your open vehicle among a gathering herd. As the huge males move closer their slow silent tread belies their awesome power. You don’t know whether to keep taking amazing photos or simply to sit and savour the moment.

These amazing creatures can live for 60 or 70 years and over that time have six sets of giant molar teeth. All that chewing on branches and consumption of tons of vegetation wears them out, and when elephants die, it’s often just because they’ve worn down their last set of teeth.