Elephants
later we could possibly have avoided the long trek. By now it was getting really hot with the temperature well over 100F and the wind was beginning to set off dust devils and blow from every point of the compass making it impossible to get anywhere near to an elephant, so we knocked off and headed back to base camp. It was too hot to sleep so I made some tea which was refreshing and tried to read a book periodically pouring water over my shirt to keep cool and also have a wet towel around my head. At lunch time the district officer Major Perkins dropped by for a chat. And to show me a fine set of tusks that he had got, his first ever each weighing about 65lbs of which he was very proud. At about 3 pm we were off again picking up the spoor that we had followed all morning and we had only gone about a mile when suddenly I heard the unmistakable gasp of elephant ahead. It felt like action so I sent Timothy back for safety and went on to stalk with Mchacha. There was now a tremendous noise and suddenly we saw and heard a clash of tusks with heavy snorting and gasping. We climbed a nearby large anthill to get a better view over the tall grass and to our amazement we saw two huge bull elephants fighting in the middle of the glade with a female nearby pulling off branches to eat non chalantantly whilst the bulls battled it out for her favours!
The younger bull had two very even tusks, beautifully pointed weighing at least 40 lbs or more, whilst the older bull had one enormous or working tusk, whilst the other was shorter and more stumpy. He was probably right handed and used the large tusk to dig with. The fight was remarkable in how strictly fair and clean it was, fought in a series of rounds. One elephant would square up to and face his opponent who often was looking the other way. He would raise his trunk straight out in front ,then trumpet with his ears wide open, whilst the other would suddenly whip round