Big Tusker Craig the elephant goes to the spa
I returned to my cottage after lunch and collapsed on the bed hoping to grab a nap after our morning game drive. I had two hours before Pilipili, my Maasai guide, and I headed out again. Something roused me while in that in-between zone of sleep and wakefulness. The afternoon was quiet in the heat. I raised up on my elbows and peered through the screen trying to orient myself. An enormous red-brown head rose out of the thick grass. A huge bull elephant was silently enjoying a mud bath directly in front of me. I didn’t realize I had a view of the far end of the water hole from my porch. I slid my feet into my sandals, grabbed my cameras, and raced back to the main lodge.
In stealth mode I crept across the lawn and slipped onto a chair a few yards from the electric wire that separated me from the water hole. The bull hauled himself up from the depth of the wallow and casually sauntered off into the trees, a giant chocolate dipped elephant from head to tail.
As I reviewed the few images I captured, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Coming down the path was big tusker Craig, identifiable by his colossal tusks and a right-angled tear in his left ear. We faced each other across the water hole. After a pregnant pause, Craig calmly proceeded to go through his entire spa routine right before my eyes.
Step one: Suck up a good slurp of mud.
Step two: Spray over body and repeat.
Step three: Carefully slide 6 tons of elephant into the bath.
Step four: Ahhh … enjoy the soak.
The entire process was soundless except for the Pfffftttt when Craig sprayed mud across his back. Unless you were looking, you would not know that the largest land mammal on earth was enjoying a bath a few yards away. A sense of peace, calm, and pleasure hung in the air. Craig slowly stirred the pool of muddy pudding until his massive body was completely coated in dark, red-brown muck. Finally, with a huge heave ho, he hauled himself out and slowly ambled into the bush.
As Craig disappeared into the trees another bull came down the path! I wondered if they chose numbers in the forest to decide who got to bathe first.
This bull proceeded to go through the same ritual as Craig: survey the bath, suck in mud for that first coat, spray, repeat, slide into the mud hole, enjoy, spray more mud, exit. No wet towels to hang up in the end, just a growing soupy lip around the water hole. A group of zebras arrived during the elephants’ spa session, unimpressed they surveyed the scene. After the big boys’ baths there was no clean water left to drink - just one massive bowl of liquid muck.
