Elephant Herd and Sandgrouse

The rivers of Africa are great places for observing life. Big game country is usually quite arid and so the water courses are particularly important. It is here that many kinds of wild-life congregate.

Unquestionably, the most spectacular river users are the elephants. They wade, they splash, they drink, they squirt a shower bath with their trunks, they even lie down and roll. Elephants, with their large body mass, have a heat control problem. Their large ears are more for radiating heat than for listening. Elephants at the water exhibit obvious pleasure. They are not only intelligent animals, but they have a well-developed social sense and relate strongly to each other as individuals.

In this painting a group of cow elephants and young have just entered the river. Their dusty, dry hides will soon be criss-crossed with dark splashes. The little ones are timid and stay very close to their mothers.

The sandgrouse are dove-like ground birds of the arid bush country. These are Namaqua sandgrouse which sometimes gather in flocks of hundreds to land at the water's edge for a drink.