Sighting elephants during monsoons is always an arduous task during safaris, especially by boat. This is because the water from the dam enters the edge of the forest, which makes it almost impossible for elephants to graze in this area.

On this particular rainy evening, we began our safari with little expectations of sighting an animal. As we were entering the national park, I started scanning the gaps in the bamboo thickets in an effort to sight an animal. I was delighted when I spotted something there. However, I was not sure that what I sighted was an elephant, as there was no movement there, and the visibility was poor.

As we moved farther ahead, we were surprised to find elephants emerging from the bamboo thickets! Interestingly, it was a small family comprising three adults and a calf. What happened next proved to be a real treat for all of us.

A Herd of Asiatic Elephants at Kabini

This small herd began walking into the water and some submerged themselves in it to collect the long grass hidden beneath.

Elephants Submerging Themselves in the River

After plucking the grass, it was fascinating to watch these jumbos cleaning the grass while a calf stood on her hind-legs! This was the first time those of us on the safari had experienced something like this, and we were truly amazed. We spent about 45 minutes enjoying this wonderful spectacle!

An Elephant Cleaning Grass

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Herbivores, Mammals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.