Written by: Clive Millar

Africa is a wonderful, yet also unforgiving, place. I was reminded of this one day when on a game drive in Chobe National Park. It had been a blisteringly hot day and I’ve never seen so many elephants lying down for a rest in what was left of the shade.

However, one group was crowding round a young female on completely open ground. This seemed a rather strange place to take a nap so I drove on to get a better view. It suddenly dawned on me that we were witnessing one of the most emotive yet fascinating pieces of animal interaction – elephants mourning. The cow can’t have died more than an hour or two prior to our arrival.

The small herd crowded round her, touching, nudging and pushing her. We watched this for about 30 minutes before they slowly began to move off. This took some time as they would move away, then turn around and come back again to continue their ritual.

Whether it was simply our human emotion I can’t say, but if elephants can express melancholy I would say that, when the herd finally left, it was with a tear in their collective eye.

But life is swings and roundabouts and the elephant has provided a lifeline to many of the carnivorous species in Chobe, especially the vultures. They have taken a battering through poisoned and burnt carcasses in the past year and a friend who passed by the site the following day told me that he estimated over 100 vultures could be seen feeding. So a very sad moment gives life to those remaining in the bush. Swings and roundabouts indeed.