Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
road kill when large trucks have not stopped for the elephants and the same is likely to happen
in the Serengeti to wildlife if the road through it goes ahead. Our host in Kasane and guide for
Chobe had a photographic guide partner that I got to know since he was ill and could not be
cured in Botswana. One of the stories he told was about a time he took some Italian tourists out
in Chobe and they found themselves surrounded by a herd of breeding elephants. The matriarch
charged them, hooking the front of the land rover off the ground, and then pushed it backwards
a 100 feet up against some trees. While this was going on, he told the tourists he would
personally shoot the first person who tried to run before the elephants got them. Once the land
rover came to a stop, every one of the elephants in the herd came and put their trunks up to the
tourist to smell them, as they sat in absolute fear and silence. Then the herd left, never having
harmed them. He pointed out they were lucky because if the tusks had punctured the radiator
(the tusks went on either side), the steam would have erupted in her face and then she would
have probably slayed them. Once, on my way back from Kasane, driving at night, a black steer
was standing on the highway. The first I saw of it was a glint in its eye. We hit it at about 70
miles an hour and scraped along a solitary bridge barrier support over a dry river bed (wadi).
The 5 series BMW performed as designed; the engine was forced under the cabin by the
impact, the steer tumbled over the roof but never collapsed, and the side of the car was raked
by the bridge barrier. We only had scratches from the broken glass although the car was a total
write off. Thank goodness it was not the legs of an elephant because the story would have
likely ended worse. A kind Botswana African stopped his truck and took us to a local village
where we could call for help. A couple of years later, my best friend from Durban, Peter, and
later his brother-in-law, were killed on the same stretch in accidents with cattle on the road.
South Africa:
We edged over the border between Botswana and South Africa above the Madikwe Game
Reserve. This used to be a farming area that has now been restored to a game reserve with a
good wildlife population - another good example of the concept of restorancy. The vegetation
is still not fully grown since the trees need to re-establish themselves, but I have seen and
photographed lion kills there and a leopard chasing an impala. Shortly beyond are Pilansberg
and Rustenburg and the Bushveld Igneous Complex, the latter two the sources of most of the
world's platinum and palladium.
Pilansberg is the site of a 25 square mile extinct crater (the Ngorongoro crater is only 10
square miles) that also used to be farmland and has been restored to a well-populated game
reserve and over the last 30 years. Orphan elephants were brought in from the Kruger Park but
this created a problem because there were no elderly bulls to discipline the new youngsters.
Rhinos were being speared to death at watering holes and it was only when the culprits were
caught on webcams that it was discovered the young bulls were killing the rhinos. Some old
elephant bulls were then brought into the game reserve which stopped the killing and “bulling”
of the young males - an important lesson that also applies to humans: if there is not an elderly
bull around, the young bulls turn on others and themselves. The young askaris bulls learn from
the older bulls and in return protect him. Yet the elephant population has increased so rapidly
that 11 controlled hunts managed by the game department were allowed in order to control the
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