Zimbabwe: Hwange NP – Elephants at Sunset
Hwange National Park is famous for its giant elephant herds. There are around 45,000 elephants in the park, more then half of the entire Zimbabwe stock. As Hwange lacks naturally occurring permanent water holes, water is pumped at seven artificial small ponds, where in dry season elephants come in giant herds of sometimes 200-300 animals in a single spot. In wet season, the situation changes as the water is now abundant, trees and bushes are green and grasses are high. So while you don’t get to see massive herds, you do get a chance to see a lot of small babies. Well, on the very first night in Hwange, in a sunset game drive, 113 elephants came out right in front of me in a big grassy open area framed by setting red sun – a very uncommon sighting for the wet season. Elephants were grazing in high grasses, “yelling” with their trunks, and little baby elephants running around.
