Thanks, Subash.
I wanted to show the "acrobatics", hence the tight crop. Scroll R for
two uncropped shots & again right for another at Sable Dam. It was very
hot (32ºC) for "winter" yesterday with terrible glare.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wisselstroom/42852462501/
Sable Dam is about 5km S of Masorini. There are three resident herds of
about 50. They probably roam up to 20km in search of food (plentiful at
the moment). We were "trapped" at Sable Dam for about half-an-hour. The
large Bull & two Askaris have been roaming the area for years. There are
several reservoirs within 20 km but the wind pumps have now all been
replaced by solar so the yield is much less & the reservoirs never get
full. The reservoirs trickle feed drinking troughs. In the old days the
Ellies could simply slip their trunks over the top but the water level
is now too low. In fact, the overflow often led to the formation of
artificial waterholes. The decision to remove the Wind pumps was taken
because species needing a lot of water & predators were being attracted
into more arid parts of the park where they threatened the survival of
slow breeding species such as Roan & Reedbuck. The two latter species
can make do with much less water that say, Impalas, Zebras, Wildebees &
Lions. Lions (unlike all other cats) live in prides to defend their
water sources. The Roan population became critically low so captive
breeding programmes were set up in large protected Bomas. It has been
very successful & the herds have now been released. A herd of 30 was
recently spotted at Tsednze about 100km N. Some Roan males have been
imported from Zambia to boost the depleted gene pool.
Thanks for listening! I hope some others enjoyed this discourse. So
different to N. America although the Bison rescue programme must have
been quite similar. .
Alan C
On 06/17/2018 8:41 AM, Subash Jeyan wrote:
nice but i feel it is too closely cropped. i personally would like a
bit of breathing space around the elephant but you may have your
reasons for doing so.
On Sat, 16 Jun 2018 19:40:50 +0200
Alan C <[email protected]> wrote:
A thirsty Bull Elephant using his neck muscles to lift his massive
body so he can reach the water in a concrete reservoir near the
Masorini Archaeological site in the Kruger Park. Sorry about the
harsh midday light.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wisselstroom/27968918137/
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