Swimming and wrestling was order of the day for these young bulls

For Pungwe guests Milly and Gary Howard, the highlight of their recent three-night stay at Pungwe was not, as one might expect, magical leopard sightings or superlative lion encounters, even though they had both of these experiences in abundance! It was a chance sighting of a breeding herd of elephants at Dixie Dam on their last morning that soon developed into something really special...

"We'd been up to Dixie Koppie to admire the view and take some photos of the sun rising over the Manyeleti, which was magical in itself," says Gary, an ex-pat Brit now living in Qatar with wife Milly. "When our guide, Never, drove us down, we noticed a breeding herd pulling in to Dixie Dam and parked close to the water to watch them drink. We never imagined that 45 minutes later we'd still be there watching these incredible animals!"

Shortly after Never strategically parked his vehicle to afford Gary and Milly the best shots possible for these keen photographers, two young bulls decided to brave the early morning chill and go into the dam for a swim. They were soon followed by a third, and then fourth, older bull. Eventually a group of bulls took to the water, wrestling and "boxing" with one another, ducking and diving, rolling, splashing and trumpeting loudly in their excitement. 

Elephants and water are a dynamite combination where wildlife photography is concerned, so all you could hear for the first few minutes of the encounter and thereafter was the burst of shutters as cameras lapped up the action before cellphones were picked up to video what was turning into the sighting of a lifetime.

As more and more bulls became involved in the water fight, the elephants continued to emerge from the surrounding treeline and soon the vehicle was surrounded by almost 100 elephants of all sizes. Most chose to drink as quietly and calmly as possible on the banks of the dam, but some selected the dam wall as a good point of entry, even though it seemed very steep for the babies. 

In the dam itself, the bulls were literally having a ball, turning it into their own personal water park as they enjoyed the sport of "who dunked who" and "mud diving", coming up with tusks covered in thick, soggy gray clay. As the excitement mounted, so did the trumpeting, with mock charges and stand-offs in the water leaving Gary and Milly breathless with laughter. 

"It was just so incredible to see them interacting and playing and really enjoying themselves," says Milly. "To see animals express joy and have fun together like this is truly special and we were absolutely spoiled to see so many elephants enjoying themselves so much. We were completely in awe of them."

"We didn't know where to look there was so much action going on," explains Gary. One minute a young bull was ducking his friend and the next two were climbing up the dam wall with one stopping to scratch his bottom on the muddy bank! It was pure gold for any self-respecting safari fan!

"We've travelled widely in Africa, but this was probably one of the best sightings we've ever seen," adds Milly. "It certainly was the high point of what has been a wonderful stay at Pungwe, even with us seeing the Big Five twice over in our short stay! We'll never forget it."

So sit back and enjoy some of the amazing videos and images that came out of this incredible sighting... And feel free to share them by copying the link!

To watch more videos of the elephants, visit our YouTube channel, here!