NEW PERSPECTIVE: Dipping down low over the Suguta River in northern Kenya’s Suguta Valley
Having seen off a smaller — but still enormous — bull, alpha elephant Jager made a beeline for a young female on heat and mounted her without preamble. Their far-fromprivate coupling was over as quickly as it began, but the rest of the herd continued to circle them, ears flapping, trumpeting loudly with excitement, while our small group sat awestruck and speechless in the midst of this tumultuous celebration.
It was a spectacular finale to our morning in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. “Sit quietly”, whispered Bernard, our Samburu guide, “and they’ll come to us.” And they did — the fuzzy-haired, week-old calf that stood under its mother’s stomach to feed, two teenagers engaged in a play fight and the testosterone-fuelled male in musth that came a little too close for comfort. We saw all this and more.