07/31/2026
In June of 2022, while in the jungle of the Savé Valley Conservancy in eastern Zimbabwe we got to witness a herd of elephants feeding through the Mopane trees. We were glassing the plains from the top of a ridge when one of the trackers spotted them headed our way so we snuck closer and waited as they slowly grabbed branches and limbs to eat the leaves. I’m guessing there was probably 50-75 in the herd but maybe more because they were so spread out and moving slowly. It was amazing to see and hear the largest land animal on the planet quietly make their way through thick vegetation and had we been just a little further away they would have gone by without us noticing. Had they noticed us, or smelled us, they would have not been happy. As our PH, Lance Nesbitt described it to us on our first day there, “The elephants here a little cheeky.” Which means they will stomp you into dust given the chance.
Instead, we went unnoticed and got a peaceful glimpse into wild jungle life… but violence is always a real possibility.
