Just jump. Oh, and hang on.: Namibia Part 6: Desert Elephants

August 28, 2013

Desert elephant in Damaraland, Namibia

Somewhere, sometime, I heard about "desert elephants". I had no idea where they were or how you go about finding them, but I was intrigued.

Although not a separate species from other savannah elephants, these elephants are special because they have actually adapted over time in order to survive in the dry arid desert conditions. They have proportionately smaller bodies and slower metabolisms, longer legs for walking great distances, and their feet appear to be larger since their legs are skinner (from all the walking) and their footpads are splayed out from spending a lot of time walking on sand. They are able to scale mountains and sand dunes in order to find water sources, and can go up to four days without drinking water. They roam freely in search of food and water, and will travel upwards of 80km a day in order to reach it.

And low and behold, these elephants can be found in north-western Namibia. Aside from the small population of these desert-adapted elephants living in Damaraland, Namibia, there is only one other group of these elephants in the world: they live in Mali, North Africa.

While I was extremely keen (M would say this is putting it mildly) to see these elusive and extraordinary elephants while we were in Namibia, I knew it would require a lot of luck. Luck is not something I deal well with. Big surprise, I like things that are sure-bets. But, I could not resist at least trying. And wow, am I glad we did. That moment of first laying eyes on one of these rare elephants coming through the desert's valley and watching him slumber over the dry, dusty, craggy rocks (and knowing the rest of his heard had to be close by), is not something I will soon forget (see the cover photo, above).

While the purpose is to track (and find!) these desert elephants, Damaraland is a massive desert and the elephants are not in a game reserve or a national park (they roam free in the wild). There are no boundaries or limits to where the elephants can go. As a result, the very few lodges/companies that go to the effort of tracking the elephants focus on a "nature drive" as they cannot promise elephant sightings. Even still, the scenery in the morning over the desert plains with the hills shrouded in fog was breathtaking.

Way in the back on the right, at the foothills of the red cliffs, there are two black-backed jackals. I like how well they blend into the desert despite the sharp contrast of colours.

Ostriches wandering the desert (you don't have to play Where's Waldo with this one).

The first elephant we found after almost three hours of tracking footprints (same guy as in the cover photo). Given how far into the hills the herd was, our guide was becoming concerned that we might be able to see them as it's only possible to drive so far into the cliffs.

Part of the herd...

More of the herd: 13 of the 20 elephants in "Rosie's herd" (hint: did you spot the teeny tiny baby on the far right?). The rest of the herd was crossing on the opposite side, and we saw all 20 elephants congregate in the valley on the other side of these mountains.

This bull was basically scaling a mountain of loose shale.

Working their way over the rocky cliff; these two were among the last to make their way to the valley.

Water is over-rated: now is as good a time as any for a dust bath.

The soles of the feet that lead us to the herd.

This little guy is two and a half weeks old. Our guide said he saw him the day he was born, and the next day the herd was over 40km away from where he'd seen them the previous day. No wonder the gestation period of an elephant is 22 months...they need to be ready to go as soon as they're born!

This little buddy is one month old. He's a bit more filled-out than the lil' guy in the previous photo, but both stayed very close to their mothers while we watched them (to the point of nearly tripping them a few times).