[Kenya] The Elephants of Kenya

I wrote previously that the first of the big five animals we saw was the elephant. We saw elephants during our first game drive. There were several adults and a few calves with them. They were slowly leaving the area after we arrived but we did have lots of opportunities to take photos.

The first set of elephants we saw (in Samburu)

We saw lots of elephants in each of our Samburu game drives. When our guide Zachary took us to the Ewaso Nyiro river, we saw a few of them. This one had what seemed to have a trunk that was longer than average.

Quite possibly the largest elephant we saw was also by the river. Our jeep was practically right next to this one. We stayed very quiet so as not to trigger any aggressive response from the elephant. We even managed to take selfies with it.

We also spotted this elephant with its calf standing just meters away from this crocodile. Can you see them?

The scariest experience we had in Kenya also involved an elephant. We actually got chased by one. What happened: we turned into a dirt road and we were initially the lone jeep here. Here we saw a large elephant walking slowly in our direction on the same road. We stopped and took some photos and I was hoping it would walk right next to our jeep. While we were there, another jeep arrived from the other direction. Now, there was a jeep on either side of the elephant. I think it may have felt cornered and spooked when the other jeep started to drive away - towards us in the opposite direction - because it suddenly started to move and act very aggressively. The other jeep was moving forward and it sped away but because we couldn't move forward ourselves - the elephant was blocking our path - we ended up becoming the object of its aggression. Zachary reacted very quickly and started driving in reverse but the elephant followed us. We drove backwards until we went around a bend in the road, out of sight of the elephant. But after several seconds, we saw the elephant still walking towards us. We drove in reverse again but the elephant kept walking after us. Eventually, the elephant just headed into behind some large trees away from the road. Even then, we thought that the elephant could be hiding behind the tall bushes and ram us as we drove past it so we waited for a short bit but thankfully, it was gone. Whew! This next selfie is the only one I was able to take of that elephant.

This elephant chased us for maybe a few hundred meters

We didn't see any elephants in Lake Nakuru. But we did see an elephant in Maasai Mara. Our guide Zachary told us that during the wildebeest migration, it gets harded to spot two animals in Maasai Mara - the elephant and the rhino - because both these creatures don't like the noise. As such, it wasn't a surprise that we only saw one elephant here.

The only elephant we saw in Maasai Mara

While I had seen a lot of elephants in my life, I think this trip to Kenya may have been the first time I saw an African elephant. As far as I can recall, all other elephants I had previously seen in my life, including Maali from the Manila Zoo, were Asian elephants. This added an element of excitement and discovery to our safari trip.

Next: The Lions of Kenya