Shooting Elephants. Botswana Trilogy Part 2: Shinde Camp.

Big, handsome, social and wise. 

Well, that’s enough about me...

We arrived at our second camp in Botswana in the early afternoon to be welcomed by a slightly worried guide. He hinted at poor animal sightings and offered a more ‘relaxing’ kind of visit.

Oh dear.

The forests and savannah around Shinde had recently experienced a massive fire. This foretold low wildlife numbers, as many had moved away to stay with family and friends. The elephants however seemed not to care, they had all their family and friends with them. No need of Facebook.

It seems that our stay there would be about shooting elephants. And one elephant in particular.

There were rumours of a mutant, deep within the swamps of the Okavango, a young elephant that had been spotted sporting two trunks. Was this possible? We set out to find it.

That first day found us few elephants, but I did spot a tick between the eyes of this passing leopard. It’s surprising how close you can get to deadly predators as long as you stay sat down in your open top van and pretend to not look like dinner. 

Having decided not to try out my new tick removing method without further trials, we then saw my next potential patient; one of my dog’s relatives (another professional scavenger) missing part of his lower jaw. After being on safari you tend to get the idea that maybe ‘natural’ is not all that much of a good thing....

As for our quarry, we were out of luck, no sign of elephants (apart, that is, from the ubiquitous elephant poo).

Evening came and we stopped to be admired by the scenery...

Then, as the last light faded, in the dark far distance, elephants! 

Our hopes thus raised, we readied ourselves for the next days hunt. 

The day started early (at the usual 6am) and welcomed us with clear blue skies.

Would we find the rumoured monstrosity? 

The only mutant we saw that morning was this three-headed giraffe.

How disappointing! 

Then, that afternoon. A young elephant with a strange trunk!

This, however, was not a mutant. It had undergone cosmetic surgery done by a local quack. Probably an encounter with a crocodile whilst crossing a river...

We continued on, tracking elephant footprints and their tastefully discarded ‘spoor’.

Then our luck changed. Before us, a huge herd. Amongst them, many young.

Some feeding, some fighting, some frolicking.

And then, in the distance, a glimpse of our prey! One slim chance for a photo before it disappeared...

Success! The rumours were proven to be true! 

Now armed with photographic evidence, we could stun the worlds leading scientists! 

Would having two trunks be useful? Any elephant this well endowed would surely smell twice as good? Drinking however might well be a problem, with water sucked up one trunk leaking out of the other...

Our goal finally achieved, we spent the rest of our stay relaxing in the swamp, as one does.

After a couple more days floating around the swamp and avoiding hippos, we walked away from the Okavango Delta, with temperatures mounting, ready for our final challenge.

  Wild Dogs or not Wild Dogs? Stay tuned.

Editor’s Notes:

No animals were harmed in the production of this blog. All shooting was by camera only. Duh.

Literary license has been used in the production of this blog. The photo of the poor young elephant with the amputated trunk was taken near the last camp, Chitabe. It was not photoshopped, neither was the photo of the elephant that appeared to have two trunks. 

The global loss of wildlife has recently been highlighted in these enormous beasts. Because of the work of wildlife charities such as the African Wildlife Foundation, and because of the forward looking Botswana government, hunting wildlife in the entire country has now been banned, and elephant numbers are rebounding.

Seeing an elephant rebound at close quarters is not to be advised.

To see all photos from the Shinde Camp, please click here.

For the third and final chapter, click here