This elephant bull can be distinguished from the other elephants buy the small piercing in his right ear. It’s this little hole that has led to his name – Gaatjie or Small Hole in Afrikaans. Another classic trademark is that he often rests his trunk on his left tusk. Gaatjie is a 30 year old elephant bull that was brought to the reserve from the Kruger National Park He weighs approximately 5.5 tons and is only just beginning to reach his full size. He has about 20cm left to until he will be fully grown. With Gaatjie’s recent adventures and those from 2 years ago, we can also confirm that the wooden walkway at Idwala is 5.5 ton proof!
Elephant trunks are very agile
He has very thick tusks but they grow very slowly and due to the rate that he wears them down they’ll never get very long. Gaatjie’s tusks are used for various purposes, mainly in relation to finding his next meal! He breaks branches with them and will use them in defence.He has a great appetite, needing 300kg of food a day. This will take him far and wide across the reserve. It seems that he enjoys the inner core of aloes so much, that it often leads him to go to the strangest places and this leads to his image of bravery….or foolishness.
Gaatjie is well known for his close visits to Idwala and many staff have a story of when this gentle giant came too close. Talented, he has learnt how to open the tap that feeds the swimming pool and he often wanders beyond the pool towards the main lodge. Unsuspecting staff has often rounded the corner at the end of the wooden walkway to find Gaatjie standing on walkway. This wooden platform is 7metres above the ground and he weighs over 5 tons. A credit to the strength of this walkway! Staff will back off and leave this elephant to be but some have been brave enough to tell him off and ask him to move.
Everybody that works on the reserve knows this elephant. He has had more close encounters with humans than any of the other elephants. There is another story of a ranger leaving a lodge on the reserve, late one night. He turned his head as someone called him and did not see who was standing outside the door. The poor ranger ran into the back of Gaatjie! Luckily the elephant got a fright and moved off very quickly!
Happily wandering around
We like to call him the “Traffic Officer” when he comes to visit the valleys around Idwala. He loves to act like a roadblock. And often, it is as if he knows that the team are in a rush to get to the lodge or to their homes. Many a cake has burnt in the oven as the chef was stuck behind Gaatjie. At night, he knows which corners to hide behind, giving the drivers a big fright! Luckily, his bark tends to be bigger than his bite and he makes space once the game is over.
giving the trunk a rest!
A little bit of face paint to impress the ladies
No comments:
Post a Comment