Patrol Week - from the one and only! Chris Pitot

Chris Pitot | EHRA Tracker for 8 Years

Making a guest apperance on the EHRA Blog this week is our very own Chris! Read what he has to say about patrol week.

‘We set off on Monday and drove to a farm not too far from camp and saw fresh ele tracks walking down the road we were on. As we were about to climb a hill, somebody spotted an elephant in the Mopane trees. It was Voortrekker!

When we followed him we realised the whole of the Ugab elephant population was with him and they ALL walked past the car! Some of the Huab elephants from H2 were also present. They walked to a grassy plain to the east of the dune field and grazed, with the Brandberg as a back drop it could not have a been a more perfect and relaxing encounter!

We stretched a tarpaulin between the car and two Mopane trees for shade and had lunch in a field of yellow flowers! In the afternoon we went back to see the elephants to try and get some outstanding ID photos and to ID which elephants from the Huab herd were there.

On Tuesday we found them at the same spot and they then went to drink at a pan that got filled up by the rains. On Tuesday afternoon we went to the Huab and to our surprise it had just flowed! We had to do it so we drove into the river. After much pushing and laughing we reached our sleeping spot dry and safe.

On Wednesday after not finding elephant tracks for the other Huab herds we drove towards Twyfelfontein and found H2 at the dam. They were very red from the sand they had thrown over their backs. Wednesday night we had a good sleep and even heard a hyena!

On Thursday we check back in with H2, the herd had not moved far and Monica, one of the female calves, strolled up to my car and sniffed the front tire!!

One of my best patrols in all the years I have been with EHRA!

If you would like to receive any additional information or if you have any questions, please contact Rachel@desertelephant.org