Page 43 - Discover Botswana 2021

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK
the young collectively, teaching them complex survival and social skills, for which elephants are so well known.
Mythically, the elephant is known to be wise, to have a long memory. Maybe this is why the matriarch of a herd, with her age and wisdom, knows exactly when to start a journey, and when to end it. Each member of the herd depends on her experience and wisdom as she leads them long distances over plains, rivers, and across borders, to exactly where she knows they must go. It seems as if this matriarch has trodden the Chobe paths many times with her ancestors. She has learnt and memorised over the years which routes are safe and reliable, and as they walk, this memory is passed on to the younger ones, to keep, and to memorise for themselves, and to pass on in turn to the next generations.
From the hot, dry areas around, the herds make their way gently across the plains to the glorious Chobe River. Here the action starts - they will bath, take long drinks of the cool water, and play around joyfully in the mud. They spray water into the air, down their backs to cool off, and squirt mud over each other in one of the most playful spectacles you will see in the wild! It is difficult to know who has more pleasure the elephants or the spectators!
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