A herd in the bush... is better than a bird?

Many visitors prefer the Kruger National Park in winter. In olden days, before air-conditioned cars and rooms, the northern part of the Park was even closed in summer, heat and malaria both off-putting.

Lush summer verdure in the rainy season gives a very different experience than the dry winter, although some of the smaller animals may be hidden. Not these ones!

Many antelopes have their young in summer. The mothers are better fed, producing more milk than in winter when the grass is dry and most trees leafless. This makes the summer visit option tempting.

African elephants calve all year round. Their gestation period of 21 months removes the sense of an annual calving season. Incidentally, their gestation lasts a month longer than that of the Asian elephant.

Elephants walk far in a day when they so choose, feeding on more than the leaves of trees: Upper branches, bark, fruits as well as roots of trees they have dislodged, all form part of a diet beyond the capacity of lesser browsers. And to balance it all, or when nothing else is within reach where they may be walking, small plants and grass will also do.

One can’t be too picky if in excess of 150 kg per day has to be ingested to keep the stomach from growling. All of this takes up to 18 hours each day. These large herds are mostly females and calves only, unless a male in musth has become protective towards a female in heat (Wikipedia; www.conservenature.org).