The Wild Source >> Elephant

Elephant

Summary
Fortunately elephants are common in most major safari areas so typically seeing elephants is not a difficult task. However, concentrations vary greatly seasonally and throughout their range so often while it is easy to find lone bull elephants a few times on a trip planning is needed to encounter large breeding herds and the congregation of multiple herds.

Best Places
Northern Botswana is currently home to an estimated 150,000 elephants, about 30% of the total population. Chobe National Park and private areas in the Linyanti/Selinda concessions are particularly good. Viewing by boat on the Chobe Riverfront is a fantastic way to observe elephants at the water’s edge and indeed in the river itself snorkeling along. Savuti Camp and Linyanti Bush Camp both have woodpile hides that allow you up close access to elephants in waterholes for photography. A completely different best place for elephants than these immense congregations is to visit desert adapted elephants in Damaraland, Namibia. Here the elephants allow very close approach of game drive vehicles and you can see how delicate they are in living off of their fragile environment.

Other Areas of Note
Most major parks.

Something Extra
Do the Elephant Experience with Grey Matters in Botswana, available to guests at Baines and Stanley’s Camp. Here you will spend hours in the company of 3 orphaned elephants learning about their behaviors and walking with them trunk over your shoulder as you move as a herd might. You will also touch their ears, the bottom of their feet, learn their vocalizations and a host of other things during your intimate time with these soulful animals.