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Johan Kruseman
How we ended up surrounded by wild elephants after building a bridge to cross a river in search of a herd. But first, let me tell you how I met Charly, one of the oldest and strongest elephants in Mole National Park.
Since lions haven’t been spotted in Mole National Park since 2004—and if we conveniently ignore the cobras, hyenas, and crocodiles—you can go on walking safaris among the elephants here, making this park one of a kind. And man, they are massive and majestic when you’re standing right next to them.
The park does take a bit of effort to get to. But the upside is that it offers a much more intimate experience compared to the big commercial safaris in Kenya and Tanzania.
After a morning walk and an 11:00 safari drive, the five other tourists opted for a siesta —not exactly surprising after two 2-hour safaris with 38 degrees on the clock. But I really wanted to do another hike. So at 3:15 PM, I headed back to the office. I figured the safari wouldn’t happen with just one person, but a few minutes later, my favorite guide showed up, and I found myself starting the walking safari, just me and the guide.
At first, he followed some sounds, and soon we found footprints. Tracking these, we came across some fresh dung. “This is fresh, max two hours old,” the guide said. Good news, but in two hours, an elephant can cover a lot of ground. Not long after, we came across a stripped tree with fresh leaves still on the ground. The guide was even more excited than I was, which says a lot considering he’s spent 14 years, seven days a week, leading bored tourists through the park, while this was my first time tracking a wild elephant on foot. The fresh leaves meant the elephant had been eating here and was most likely still nearby.
We walked in one direction, but after a while without seeing any new tracks, my guide showed exactly why I thought he was the best in the park. He stopped, listened carefully again, turned us around, and we went back. And there came Charly, a majestic 45-year-old elephant, stepping out of the forest.
The guide told me to stay completely still, and Charly, seemingly uninterested in the two humans standing there, strolled past us just five meters away.
Charly, despite having lost one of his tusks—probably in a fight—was one of the oldest and strongest elephants around. Because of that, he didn’t need to prove himself to win over a female. This made him pretty chill, so we could observe him up close for a long time, watching as he snapped trees like matchsticks to get the sap from their trunks.
This hike, where it was just me and my guide tracking an elephant through the forest and then following him for two hours, observing him up close, might just be the most incredible day of my life. And all for the very friendly price of 40 cedis (US$2.72—no typo) for a two-hour private safari.
The next day wasn’t far behind. From the lookout at our hostel, we spotted a group of seven elephants, including a young one, emerging from the forest to cool off at the lake. We scarfed down our lunch and rushed to the park office. After handing over 40 cedis each, we were off—less than five minutes later—heading down to the lake in search of the elephants.
The first one we found was Tumi, a strong but still fairly young elephant. Because it was mating season, he was a bit more aggressive than usual since he had to fight off other males to secure a “date.” The key was not to look like competition. Our efforts to appear as little like elephants as possible seemed to pay off, as he quickly went back to tearing up trees.
We gave Tumi a wide berth, hoping to find more elephants. In the dense forest, it was harder to spot tracks—until the guide heard something in the distance. We headed that way but found a river blocking our path. Following the riverbank, we spotted a fresh footprint at the water’s edge. The elephant had crossed here.
The guide gathered some logs and built a makeshift bridge. Using a hanging vine as a “railing,” we all crossed without getting our feet wet. And not long after, we found four more adult male elephants and one “teenager” among them.
In our excitement, we’d forgotten about Tumi. Suddenly, we heard him moving to join the group. There we were, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by wild elephants. We quietly moved aside to let Tumi pass and join the others without us getting in the way.
It’s impossible to put into words how incredible it is to observe these powerful creatures so closely. Another indescribable experience.
