Elephants are among the first animals that children learn to identify because of their unusual look. Even though we have been seeing them in pictures and movies forever they are still one of the most striking and mesmerizing of all Africa’s animals to observe. Like lions’, cougars and grizzlies they make poor neighbors. As a mater of fact you will not find them outside of parks and reserves.

Elephants are incredibly dangerous and no one wants to live with free ranging elephants. Kruger Park in South Africa, Ogavango in Botswana and Etosha Park in Namibia are where you will likely see them…surrounded in all parks by a tall electric fence.

One fact about elephants that is NEVER stated accurately by the Discovery Channel is that they are not even remotely endangered. Kruger has over 12,000 elephants, Etosha over 4000 and the Okavango Delta in Botswana over 70,000. That’s more than 86.000 of these tuskers in just 3 parks….and there are dozens of parks and reserves. Here is a tidbit to use on the next tree hugger that says they are endangered… “There are as many elephants in Africa as there are elk in North America.” 

They eat a tremendous variety of plants. An elephant will fond something to chew on within trunks reach almost anywhere he’s standing. I have watched them push over a 20 foot tall tree only to nibble on an newly exposed root and eat as much of it as I could and move on. They eat large quantities of grass and bark. An adult bull may eat over 600 pounds of food a day. Multiply that by the 12,000 elephants in Kruger Park and you can see why they need to be managed. 

You seldom see one elephant. Their herds are led by an old female. They usually travel to water each day. They have no real problem with predators although an occasional lion will take a calf at great risk. Many dead guys made their last mistake when venturing too close to an elephant calf. The interesting thing about elephants is that they usually get the last word in an argument.

Dries Visser and I were talking once about elephant hunting and he stated that the biggest problem with elephant hunting is if the tables turn there is little you can do. The brain shot we hear so much about is not effective when you’re next to a tusker. They can run you down, push almost any tree over, reach under or into almost anything and they can smell you out of hiding. In short they are deadly if mad.

Elephant hunting is conducted mostly in Zimbabwe. With the political situation in Zimbabwe I’d rather take my chances with a wounded elephant than the political terrorists. There are lots of elephants in Zimbabwe but now isn’t the best time to hunt them. A rifle is clearly the safest way to hunt them but many have been taken with a bow. Watch my DVD, “Africa at full draw to see some great bowhunting for tuskers”. Dries and his PH’s have guided a lot of elephant hunters but expect to spend some dollars. A bowhunter needs to be shooting around 90+# of kinetic energy to get into the vitals.