Tsavo West National Park to Tsavo East National Park, Kenya.

We drove from Tsavo West National Park to Tsavo East National Park(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_East_National_Park) this morning. The four hour drive took us from the dramatic cinder cone vistas of extinct volcanos, including Kilimanjaro, to the more familiar savanna and woodlands of East Africa. The climate was noticeably hotter and drier.

During the journey, we came upon the Tsavo River and the railway bridge made famous by the two man-eating Lions, the “Ghost” and the “Darkness”. The maneless male Lions killed and ate upwards of three dozen people during the building of the Mombassa-Uganda railway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_maneaters

Tsavo River railway bridge.

Almost the entire drive was on the ubiquitous red dirt roads that criss-cross the parks (and most of the rest of Africa). However, these roads are well maintained compared to some of our other experiences and didn’t shake the fillings out of our teeth.

Almost as soon as we crossed into Tsavo East we began to see multiple herds of elephants and zebras as well a few critters we hadn’t seen before.

Comfy chin-rest.

Ele through trees.

Giraffe Antelope. Check out the ridiculously long neck.

Little Zebra.

Secretary Bird. Believe it or not, this fancy guy’s a vicious predator.

Termite condo-complex.

A small raptor with his lizard-lunch.

Zebra-buddies.

Now, those readers who don’t like Elephants might as well skip the rest of this post because the rest of the day was all-ele. We drove to a concrete cistern where a herd of about 20 elephants were drinking. The herd included three or four calves that were only days old. Patrick rolled the truck to within 15 feet of the elephants and killed the engine. A few of the older females took notice of us, but didn’t make any aggressive moves in spite of the young calves. They lifted their heads and flapped their ears, but didn’t come any closer to the truck or start charging. Eventually, the elephants had enough water, and one by one began to file around the truck, heading up the road from which we had come. We had elephants behind us, beside us, and in front of us. We felt as if we were part of the herd.

Crowded around the cistern.

Mom and little one.

Nice cool drink.

Little guy waiting his turn.

Some of herd leaving cistern.

Little but with attitude.

Herd coming right at us.

Eles were even closer than this one.

Last to leave.

Full and happy.

Herd moving away from cistern.

Hard to keep up with them little legs.

Catching up to the herd.

After they had moved up the road, Patrick turned the truck around and we followed the herd. We came up behind them and Patrick gently gunned the engine to try and get them off the road. One of the elephants, an Old Auntie, took offence to our proximity this time and turned around. She was clearly irritated. She flapped her ears, stomped her feet, and started to walk towards us. We stood our ground without making any noise, and the old auntie rejoined the herd. We slipped past the herd and drove up the road.

After only a few hundred meters we came upon a watering hole right next to the road with a smaller herd of elephants. We stopped to take some photographs and watch them splashing in the mud.

Three sizes.

Baby’s found the mud.

Not so sure about this.

Eventually, the first herd of elephants also arrived at the watering hole. The family groups don’t mix, so the smaller herd moved off when the others arrived. Old Auntie got her nose all out of joint again. This time she was a little more demonstrative in her displeasure, so we backed away a little, and she calmed down. The herd moved around to the far side of the watering hole, giving us great photo ops with full frontal shots. We must have clicked off 2,000 exposures as we watched the elephants cavorting around the water. The newborns were slipping and falling in the muck, the older ones sprayed themselves with thick mud. Every once in a while one of the family would snort and trumpet. We hung out with the herd for more than an hour.

First herd arrives at watering hole.

Half-hearted charge.

A walk in the mud.

Mud can be tough on the little ones.

Uh-oh, sliding….

A touch more over here….

Doncha hate it when you can’t get the sneeze out?

Muddy baby.

A pointer-ele?!?!

Gots a dribble-trunk.

Hey, get your own water.

Nice cool mud.

Group butt-scratch.

A family portrait.

Hello.

This is gonna feel so good!

I want some too.

Splashy, splashy.

Aaaaah, that’s so good!

The spray-on mud-tan.

Got me some Mickey-ears.

That tickles!

Water good, mud even better.

Yum, water.

Junior needs a cuddle.

We did the usual game drive in the late afternoon. We returned to our room at the Ashnil Aruba Lodge (http://www.ashnilhotels.com/aruba/) in the early dusk, and imagine our delight when we opened the door to our room, and saw two bachelor elephants at the watering hole 75 feet from our verandah. We enjoyed their company while they drank their fill of water. Eventually they turned in the fading light and wandered off into the savanna night.

Eles welcoming us home.