30 Apr, 2008

Male in musth acts aggressively, uprooting a tree.

When I woke up this morning in the Masinda region of the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa, I was relieved to see that the weather had cleared and looked good for filming.

Once again we crossed the White Umfolozi River and soon spotted a juvenile elephant bull, probably about two and a half tons in weight.

I had never been so close to an elephant before, yet I felt strangely relaxed. It looked at us while I carried on filming, then moved closer, and I thought how great it was not to be using the zoom lens … then the bull charged at us.

Still filming the elephant, which looked as if it was right on top of us, I screamed at crew member Jason Loughran to drive faster. I was still shouting when we came to a stop some distance away from the huge beast.

The elephant was now at a safe distance and this was how we kept it. He still appeared agitated and showed us his displeasure by uprooting a tree and throwing it to the ground.

Jason explained to me afterwards that the male was in musth, a stage bulls go through when looking for females in oestrous and ready to mate. Physical signs include a wet, oily secretion seeping from a gland between the eye and ear, a strong odour and dribbling urine.

Respecting the elephant's desire to be left alone, we filmed it from a distance, using a long lens. We focused on small details like the interesting folds on its thick skin, the hair on its tail, veins behind its ears (which help to keep it cool) and its huge round feet.

This was an exhilarating experience for me, a true bush initiation. As each day passes I learn something. Today the lesson was to capture the moment, because if you miss it, it is gone forever.

– by Boris von Schoenebeck, Earth-Touch crew © Earth-Touch

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