Elephants!

September 03, 2021

One thinks of wild animals an instant after Africa comes to mind. Big animals, running free in a big open plain, or smaller animals being chased by a faster or bigger one who is bent on getting its dinner taken down. It's a natural thing to do. The only animal that isn't regularly chased or seen very often running fast is the elephant. The adults are too big to be considered dinner by other wild animals.

We were in Mole National Park last weekend hoping to see some elephants and the wild animals in the park. We were not disappointed.

We flew from Accra to Tamale on Thursday evening (August 26) and stayed overnight in Tamale with Larry and Pat Woodbury. Just so I can remember it, we were picked up by Edmond and his two little boys, one five and one year old. Elaine sat in the back seat with them. The little guy snuggled next to his big brother and put his hand in the brother's lap to be as close as he could. We were driven to the hotel where it wasn't long until the Woodbury's showed up. Gabriel was there too. He lives in Accra too. He is a Church employee who helps with a lot of projects. The Woodbury's are the Area Humanitarian missionaries and are checking out some projects in northern Ghana and meeting with government officials, tribal leaders, and military representatives. Great people from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We visited with them and Gabriel over dinner at the hotel.

The Mole National Park is not well developed, rather rustic, run by wonderfully kind and helpful employees, with the headquarters and the government's "Mole Motel" situated right in the park where baboons, monkeys and warthogs are seen in the parking lots and roads. A family from the states living temporarily in Ghana helping with an orphanage was staying here too and had a baboon open the door of their room go checking for food. It was literally jumping on the bed and scared a nine year old girl and her aunt until they were able to coax it out of the room. The gal who works in the kitchen after that event told all the guests that "if you hear knocking at your door and the knock doesn't respond to you when you say "who is it?", don't open the door because it is a baboon!" Okay, good advice. We followed it. Never heard a knock at our door. But we were ready. Our room was one of five units with a view of the large "watering hole" down the hill used by elephants in the dry season. Unit #3. Our visit in is the rainy season when everything is green and lush and the elephants use other watering places.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

This is one of a group of elephants on our first "safari" the afternoon we arrived. We walked off the road with our guide. All visitors are required to have a guide accompany them. He looks after the safety of the visitors and carries a 270 used to scare animals away. They don't shoot at animals unless things go very bad. Seldom does that happen. We were lucky to see these elephants. This is a small group of them foraging together.

The distant shot above is how far away we were from them. Elephants will wave their ears to cool down. It is the only way to cool down. If they hold their ears straight out and look at you, they are checking you out and you had better be wary. They will faint a charge with the trunk up in the air. If the trunk is down and they are moving fast toward you it means they are building up steam and mean to take care of you, the intruder.

This big male was off by himself enjoying his food. We watched him pick up small trees by the roots and strip the leaves off without any effort at all. Scary and awesome at the same time. I could watch an elephant in the wild all day, just fascinated with its size and strength. From a distance, of course.

After walking off the road to see those elephants, we got back in the jeep. We drove down the road a ways and saw these guys. I am giving you a perspective of how far away these elephants really were from us. The lens I use is an 18 to 135mm. I put it on 55 to show you what the eye sees, them zoomed in a little.

Can you see the baboon?

On Saturday morning we woke up to rain. We were hoping to make the 7:00 am safari, but it was postponed, so we went to breakfast. By 9:15 we were back at the office signing up for another ride and were the only people on the jeep. The four of us had a great time. We were on top of the jeep this time without a canopy and could see everything. We didn't see much wildlife like the day before. However, we did see more elephants when our guide left the jeep to scout around the forest. He appeared 10 minutes later and beckoned for us to follow him, quietly. He had spotted 10 to 11 males in a herd. They saw or smelled us coming and hurried off. We followed them for a long time it seemed as we walked through the marshy forest. It was worth it.