WORDS:MARK STRATTON
AFRICAN PARKS / DARREN POTGEITER
As our tiny Cessna 182 buzzes low over yellowing savannah and plum-red acacia gum trees, the pilot, Craig Reid, spots Africa’s most northerly elephant herd. Some 500 animals are sheltering within the safe embrace of spiny forest. A few highspirited youngsters cavort in the thermal Sahelian heat. “You wouldn’t have seen this a decade ago, particularly so many babies,” says Reid, referring back to when Zakouma’s elephants were being poached into oblivion.