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| Elephants |
Safaris in West Africa are
different to those in East or southern Africa. There are no big cats in the
reserves (none that you see, at least); the camps tend to be basic concrete
rooms rather than luxury tents; and there is a wonderful disregard for health
and safety.
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| A ground hornbill |
Finding elephants on a
safari in Kenya a few years ago, our driver kept his vehicle in reverse, ready
to make a swift retreat if necessary. But when we discovered a small herd in
Burkina Faso’s Nazinga Game Ranch, our driver simply parked up and got out; I
half-expected him to pull out a picnic rug.
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| Hammerkop |
They had taken a bit of
finding. Nazinga is rarely visited, so there is no network of guides radioing
each other with sightings; it’s just a question of luck whether you see them or
not. After two hours’ rattling around dirt roads in a decrepit 4x4 (doors held
on by string, cardboard for the rear window), we had seen hammerkops and
bizarre-looking ground hornbills, but no sign of the elephants.
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| Our transport |
I was thinking we
were going to be unlucky; the elephants tend to head into the bush during the rainy season. But then our guide spotted them. He led
Hannah and I slowly through the trees to get a better view as they trudged
slowly towards a nearby water hole. One of the larger females eyed us warily as
we approached, and a couple of them turned ominously towards us.
Our guide led us quickly
onto the road; were we sensibly returning to the relative safety of the
vehicle? Not a bit of it: we crouched down on the open road and watched, from
no more than 10 metres away, as the giants thundered across before us, more than
20 animals in total. It was a brief encounter, but one well worth the effort of
travelling to this remote corner of Burkina Faso.
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| Why did the elephant cross the road? |
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