With good rains having fallen across the Okavango, the elephants had their pick of the best waterholes and wallows. This sighting shows how much they love to play in the water when it finally arrives.
Typically elephants cover huge distances and these journeys take days, especially during the dryer months. Additional excitement amongst the herd was stirred when the elephants realised that they weren’t alone on the waterhole… there was in fact a small pod of hippo sharing the same space.
The one elephant cow in particular, didn’t seem too pleased with this and she slapped the water repeatedly with her trunk, sending huge plumes of water in the direction of the hippo. It was quite amusing to watch her behave like this as usually elephants do not pay much attention to hippo. I think she may have been caught up in the moment and the excitement of wallowing got her all worked up.
Either way, it was a great show for us sitting quietly and watching from under the huge Mopane Trees that surrounded the waterhole.