Elephants are at the heart of Africa’s wilderness, and our elephant safaris offer a rare opportunity to observe them in their natural habitat while learning about the conservation efforts that protect them.
Led by expert guides and researchers, these safaris take you to remote regions where you can witness elephant behavior up close, understand the challenges they face, and contribute to their protection. Let us delve into the world of these magnificent creatures and discover why an elephant safari in Africa is an unforgettable experience.
Physical Characteristics of African Elephants
African elephants, the largest surviving land animals, possess a unique set of physical attributes that enable them to thrive in diverse habitats:
- Size: Height of 8.2 to 13 feet at the shoulder, and weight of 2.5 to 7 tons.
- Trunk: Dextrous trunk containing around 100,000 muscles, evolved from a combining of nose and upper lip. The trunk, an astonishingly mobile and dextrous collection of muscles, evolved from a combining of nose and upper lip. It has a “two-fingered” tip, used for smelling, picking and plucking.
- Ears: Wide, arching ears that radiate heat to cool the body.
- Tusks: Ivory tusks are modified front biting teeth, not canines. They are used for chiseling, digging, prizing, levering and stabbing. Elephant ivory grows four inches per year, so the frequently broken tips are continually replaced by new growth.
- Molars: Back molars grind food, such as bark and branches from trees and bushes. In its lifetime, an elephant has only six teeth on each side of each jaw, 24 in all. The teeth are large, eight to 12 inches long, so only one or two halves, end to end, are exposed on each jaw side at a time. Molars grow progressively forward, which provides scientists with a means of telling an elephant’s age. Chewing is done forward and backward; the lower jaw grinds against the upper in the forward stroke. Since elephants spend most of the day eating, they are almost continuously chewing.
- Other: Toenails rather than hooves. Pair of breasts between the forelegs. Testicles of males lie inside the body cavity close to the kidneys.
An elephant’s upper lip and nose are elongated to form a trunk, which is used as a fifth limb, as a sound amplifier and a method of touch. At the tip it has two opposing ‘lips’ (unlike the Asian elephant which only has one) which are used for precise and delicate manipulation. Their ears are enormously enlarged and contain a network of blood vessels to assist with temperature regulation. Elephants have four molar teeth. As the front pair wears down they are replaced by the rear pair, with a further six pairs growing during a lifespan of 40 to 60 years. Once the last pair wears down the animal will most likely die of starvation.
Habitat and Distribution
Elephants once roamed freely throughout Africa; now, they occupy only one-fifth of the continent. The inherent mobility of these animals allows them to select food from a variety of habitats over an extensive home range, which may be thousands of square miles in area. For a large part of the year, the availability of grass is important; the presence of perennial water within their range is essential.
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Distribution of African Elephants
Elephants occupy all African habitats from near-desert to closed canopy forest. Elephants move both daily and seasonally between different parts of their habitat, from woodland to grassland, and from bushland to swamp and back again. Elephants are active during both night and day. This is due to the fact that they have a 16- to 20-hour waking period, which must necessarily spill into the dark hours, the bulk of which is spent feeding. A midday siesta in the shade is common. In addition, if the group feels secure, they will indulge in a period of deep sleep at night, even lying down.
Elephant Behavior and Social Structure
Elephants are as sociable creatures as primates; greeting elephants will either put their trunks in each other’s mouths or touch and smell each other’s temporal glands. Such welcoming gestures probably reveal subtle states of mood, as well as identity. Like many other African herbivores, elephants may urinate or defecate to mark territory and for recognition. When two family units reunite after several days or weeks of separation, there is much squealing and trumpeting, pirouetting, backing up, greeting and excreting.
At least once a day, elephants will bathe, wallow or dust, primarily for cooling purposes and to rid themselves of parasites. Trunks full of liquid or dust are blown between the legs, on top of the head, or along the flanks. The habit of frequent mud bathing and dusting leaves elephants more the color of local soil than the natural gray of their skins. Adopted colors range from light gray to red to dark brown, allowing the observer to guess from which location a group of elephants has recently come.
The basic social group within the elephant herd is the family unit, comprising several related adult females and their immature offspring. This unit is led by the eldest cow-the matriarch. Adult males tag along with family units for short periods of time in order to inspect females for their readiness to mate. These visiting bulls play no leadership roles within the group, although they will assist in defense if necessary.
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Bulls drift from family unit to family unit, and from time to time, into loosely knit bull groups-two to 20 males who move together for a day, a week or a season. A bull group’s composition changes continually; larger bulls, newly ousted from their family unit, can quickly find teachers, companionship and safety within the groups. A family unit can contain up to 15 members. Beyond this size, the group is likely to split in half, each new group going its own way; one is led by the old matriarch, the other by one of her sisters or cousins.
Family units may show strong associations with certain other units in a particular area. Such associations are a likely result of blood relations between the matriarchs, who were probably sisters or cousins in a previous unit. With the onset of the rains and abundant grass growth, however, family groups are likely to join together in larger groups, which in the past have numbered more than 1,000 members. Bull groups will satellite around such assemblages, with many bulls entering the group to test the females. The frequency of mating is high, and this seasonal gathering of the clans may help to facilitate breeding in a species that is usually very wide-ranging and extremely mobile.
Older elephants provide the family unit with an important historical memory of watering holes, the location of seasonally available fruits, as well as other dispersed features of their world. Even a menopausal cow can retain her role as matriarch, suggesting that wisdom, and not just sex appeal, is a predominant quality for an elephant decision-maker.
Recent research has shown that elephants are highly vocal animals. Low frequency sounds, well below or at the very edge of human perception, allow contact to be maintained for up to six miles. The deep rumble heard from time to time is a contact vocalization, (“Here I am. Where are you?”) which just barely enters the range of human perception. Low frequency sound is an efficient form of transmission, especially where there is interference from vegetation. Elephants also roar and scream audibly through the trunk to produce classical trumpeting, either in anger or exultation, depending on the situation.
Breeding and Young Elephants
If not pregnant or lactating, females may come into season every two or three months. This fact, in addition to the generally wide dispersal of an elephant population, makes it necessary for males to move among family units, constantly testing for female readiness to mate. An interested male will walk past a female, surreptitiously sniff her vulva and then put the tip of his trunk into his mouth to confirm the test. It was once thought that only Asian elephant males came into sexual season, a period of ill temper called musth.
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Recent studies show that African elephant males also show seasonal fluctuations in their temper and sexual motivation and display conspicuous physiological indicators. The annual two- to three-month period of irascibility is accompanied by the penis taking on a characteristic greenish hue and strong smell. The odor is detectable to human observers, so it must be nearly overwhelming to other elephants.
The signs of musth, usually attributed only to irritable males, are now known to be inherent in both sexes. A liquid oozes from the temporal gland, a modified tear duct halfway between the ear and the eye, leaving a conspicuous dark stain along the side of the face. This secretion, called temporin, accompanies states of excitement, such as when there is a frightening disturbance or if close relatives reunite after a period of separation.
Occasionally, a female in estrus and a large courting bull, usually in musth, will consort for a time; they stay close together, pay attention to one another and exclude others from any intimacy. Consorting may be very subtle, or actually take the pair some distance away from the family unit and other bulls; this may account for the old tale of elephant “marriages.” Consorting may not always be so tender, however, and often the male may first have to “catch” the female. If the consorting female breaks into a run, the male will take off after her. A female can actually outrun a male if she wishes; getting caught is probably her way of choosing the bull that she prefers.
The female will usually stop once the male touches her, particularly if he is able to lay his trunk along her back or across her shoulders. He then rests his head and tusks on her rump and heaves himself up on his hind legs. Copulation lasts less than a minute. Strangely, the rest of the family unit is either indifferent to the copulation, or reacts with great excitement-vocalizing, ear flapping, head shaking, turning, backing and excreting.
Elephant calves spend several years dependent upon and learning from the adults, during which time there is nearly constant contact between mother and young. Young calves will suckle for a period of up to five years, reaching from the side for its mother’s teat just behind her front leg. Bulls tend to stay with their family units until they reach puberty; females, on the other hand, may stay with the group for life. Juveniles in a relaxed, undisturbed and healthy population are a pleasure to watch playing with each other-chasing, mounting, play fighting and even engaging in tug-o-wars. An elephant’s long period of childhood is matched only by that of higher primates, including humans.
Defense Mechanisms
Group defense is a common practice among elephants. When threatened, if simply moving away from the source is not effective, another tactic is employed. The next line of defense is to draw up a formidable wall of adult females to face the intrusion, with heads high, ears out, looking to and fro as if trying to make out the exact source of the annoyance. For security, the young members of the group are pushed towards the rear. In full retreat, however, the group runs off in a tight bunch, with the young protected in the middle.
The Sick and Wounded
A wounded or sick elephant causes great concern within the group. Faltering animals will be kept upright between two or more adults. Fallen animals will be fussed over with trunks and feet; tusk-breaking attempts to lift a downed elephant have often been observed. The strange habit of burying a dead or immobilized animal is also well documented. Trunks full of dirt are tossed over the animal; branches are broken off and laid tenderly over the body, until it is completely covered. Human victims of elephant attacks have been treated in a similar manner, the reason for which is unknown.
The only serious threat to an adult elephant are human beings, who will eventually either displace all wild elephant populations as they spread into marginal lands, or kill them directly for their ivory. However, an unarmed human has little chance at close range against an angry elephant. The frequently observed headshake, often accompanied by an audible ear snap, is a strong warning to stay away. A serious charge, on the other hand, is strangely quiet; the elephant runs at nearly 22 miles-per-hour, ears out, head lowered, trunk curled under.
Feeding Habits
Elephants feed up to 16 hours a day, using their trunks to reach food sources from ground level to nearly 16 feet high. Feeding techniques are varied; nearly all vegetative material is eaten, from staples such as grass, to trees, seeds, herbs and creepers. Even tree bark is stripped off acacia trees in certain seasons. While feeding on grass, elephants sometimes detect the occasional herb or creeper by smell and pluck them out.
In this way, odd individuals break the feeding pattern as they come across an interesting “side dish” or a new bulk food. The entire group may then shift to the new delicacy. Elephants are also attracted to over-ripe fruit trees and have been known to gorge themselves to the point of intoxication on fermenting fruit.
An adult elephant can eat up to 300 pounds of vegetation a day. Water is also essential-123 to 158 liters per day-both for cooling and helping with digestion. Water is sucked into the trunk and then tipped and released into the mouth. Animals less than six months old have not yet learned this trick, so instead, they drink from their knees, sucking water directly into their mouths. At wells or at a normal watering hole, elephants easily displace all other animals, including buffaloes and rhinos, and have been known to kill if it comes to a fight.
Studying Elephant Communication | HHMI BioInteractive Video
Where to Experience Elephant Safaris in Africa
Africa offers a plethora of destinations for unforgettable elephant encounters. Here are some of the best:
- Botswana: Botswana offers exceptional elephant safari experiences, boasting the world’s largest elephant population. The Okavango Delta’s lush wetlands and woodlands provide the perfect habitat for these intelligent creatures. Visitors can observe elephant families on game drives, explore waterways by mokoro (dugout canoe), or join guided walking safaris for unique insights into their behavior. In elephant hotspots like Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta you can see elephants enjoying their best lives in the wild, drinking, bathing and playing in the abundant waterways.
- Namibia: Be swept away by the magnificent desert giants in the epic stark landscapes of Namibia where the desert-dwelling elephants have enlarged feet to help them move around sand dunes. In Namibia’s Etosha National Park, you’ll feel tiny against the giant white elephants, their thick, wrinkled skin coated with dust from the Etosha salt pan’s white dust. The experience of simply being at a waterhole in this semi-arid environment, watching as the elephants come in to drink at sunset, is truly extraordinary.
- Rwanda: While Rwanda may be more famous for its mountain gorillas than its elephants, it’s here that you can see the elephants that are the subject of the Akagera Elephant Project, started by Dr Tammie Matson in 2018. This small population of 140 elephants are survivors of the genocide years in Rwanda and their story is one of triumph against the odds. Quite a few of these elephants still have half-trunks and damaged legs from the snares that were set in the desperate days after the Rwandan genocide.
- South Africa: A trip to South Africa is not complete without a safari in one of the famous private game reserves or in Kruger National Park in the north of the country. The Sabi Sand Game Reserve offers a range of luxury lodges in prime elephant habitat. For a malaria free experience, consider Madikwe or Pilanesberg Game Reserves.
- Kenya: After the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Amboseli National Park is the second most-frequented in Kenya. It offers some of the best views of Kilimanjaro just across the border, as well as sightings of elephants, subject to the longest ongoing elephant study in the wild.
- Tanzania: The semi-arid savannah of Ruaha National Park's rolling plains are scattered with acacias, baobabs and overhanging forest. This is an ideal environment for our soft-footed friends. So it’s no surprise that this national park has the highest concentration of African elephants in all of East Africa.
- Zambia: South Luangwa National Park has a respectable elephant population within its borders. However, what makes this park such a winner is that this park is the “birthplace of the walking safari”. Therefore, visitors can explore the park on foot for their elephant safari in Zambia, feel the thrill, and appreciate the sheer size of these massive mammals.
- Zimbabwe: The formidable image of the elephant may as well be the official symbol of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. This wildlife sanctuary is home to one of the largest elephant herds you can find on the entire continent. And it should come as no surprise that, spanning an area of 14,600km² - it's also the largest (and oldest) national park in the country.
Elephant Interactions on Safari
Elephant interactions are experienced in many ways, easy from a vehicle, intense on foot spending time with elephants can be utterly magical. Elephants are, ultimately, the most special animals in Africa. They are enormous, powerful and dominant. At times they are terrifying. They even have the power to reshape ecosystems on a grand scale. Yet at the same time, elephants are intelligent, sociable, sensitive and endearing, fascinating to watch for hour after hour. Viewing and interacting with elephants is an essential part of most good safaris in Africa. There’s nothing more exciting and rewarding than spending time with these gentle and sociable, often boisterous and entertaining giants.
Vehicle Encounters
The vast majority of African elephant interactions take place by vehicle. Elephants regularly front up to vehicles, charging to within five metres, flapping their giant ears and trumpeting loudly, but in almost all cases these are mock charges designed to ensure that you keep your distance, whilst the more vulnerable members of the family move off to safety. If you are with a good guide, then the chances are that this type of encounter will not be unduly stressful for the elephants, it’s just part of their regular behaviour. However, there are occasions when elephants do actually charge vehicles. Most often the situation is resolved by simply driving away, but if the animal catches the vehicle, it will think nothing of barging it, ripping at it with its tusks and even overturning it.
On-Foot Encounters
Approaching elephants on foot is inherently the most exciting and intimate way to interact with these wonderful animals. However it can also be very dangerous. Although the number of serious incidents are very low, we usually hear of one or two each year. Most of us here at ATR have approached elephants on foot many times and definitely recommend the experience. The key is to be with a very good guide and to listen and obey their every command. But even then there is an appreciable level of risk that you would need to take on board.
Encounters in Camp
One of the best ways to interact with elephants is back in camp. These gentle creatures are regular visitors to many camps, making it possible to sit quietly on your veranda and watch them grazing just a few metres away. In some camps you may be woken up at night by the sound of a rough elephant hide scratching on the outside of your tent, bowing the canvas inwards as they reach for fruit in the trees overhead. Always check to see whether the tree above is fruiting.
Hides
A hide is a simple structure in which you can conceal yourselves in order to view wildlife up close. Some hides are designed largely for the viewing of elephants. The best hides are designed for just one or two people in which case the experience can be very intimate and hypnotic.
| Location | Details |
|---|---|
| Zimbabwe (Hwange) | Camp Hwange and Little Makalolo Camp have 'logpile hides'. The Hide Safari Camp provides an eye-level view from a subterranean viewpoint. |
| Botswana (Linyanti) | Duma Tau Camp has a sunken hide for eye-level viewing. A similar facility was installed at the nearby Hyena Pan Camp in 2019. |
| Zambia (South Luangwa) | Kaingo Camp has an elephant hide in a tree-house setting. |
Face to Face with Baby Elephants
There are a number of locations in Africa where there are elephants which are habituated to human presence, meaning that you can really get up close and even touch them. There are presently three elephant projects that we support, all of which rescue orphaned baby elephants, raise them and, eventually, return them to the wild. The Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi is by far the best known project. The real highlight is their release project in Tsavo, where you can stay and hang out with the youngsters as they get to know their new herd.
Conservation Efforts and Challenges
Despite international concern for their threatened status, some conservative figures suggest that elephants will be virtually eliminated in East Africa within the next 20 years. Over the past 20 years, illegal poaching, primarily for ivory, has reduced most East African populations by nearly 90 percent. Fortunately, they have been comparatively protected in Southern Africa and fortunately can be seen in large numbers in Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.
There were times back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it looked like the days of the African elephant were seriously numbered. Fortunately, the worldwide ban on the sale of elephant parts introduced by CITES in 1992 saw a hundred-fold drop in prices and an almost complete collapse in this heinous trade. Since then elephant populations have bounced back quite strongly, as evidenced in locations such as Tarangire in Tanzania, where vast herds now gather, although mature tuskers are still notably absent.
But we are not out of the woods yet. Large vested interests continue to lobby hard for a lifting of the CITES ban and (we suspect because of the increasing Chinese influence in Africa) and poaching is once again on the increase, particularly in the Selous area of southern Tanzania.
Elephants are very special to me. They’re wise, social, playful, sometimes a little mischievous, and always utterly spellbinding. Every Safari I design is a chance to help guests connect with elephants in fresh, memorable ways - and each story and encounter shared with me leaves a mark on my heart. Today, I want to do more than share facts. I want to bring you into the moments: the sights, sounds, and even late-night rumblings that define what it’s like to meet elephants in the wild.
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