Playfights of young elephant bulls
We have often seen young bulls playfully measuring their strength. It is remarkable when you step out of the bush and two young bulls stand in the middle distance and start to fight playfully. The bushwalks in Mashatu offer of course a quite wonderful scenery. The elephant density is very high. Since we were daily between 15 and 20 km on foot in the bush, there was of course a high probability to experience such a spectacle live once. As far as we were just at the right time in the right place. These young bulls, which we were allowed to observe here, were particularly active!
You can feel the energy
The energy released in such playful confrontations is remarkable! We were about 30 meters away and positioned ourselves in front of dense bushes so that we were protected from behind. The space taken up by the two in their scuffle is amazingly high. They like to push each other 50 to 100 meters from left to right during this ‘altercation’.
You have to be wide awake to enjoy the spectacle at close range with little risk. Respect is the key: always make sure to keep enough distance. If then the backup guide still keeps an eye on the surroundings, you can book a quite unique experience on the credit side.
