Meet the Mahoneys - Chapter IV - Moja!

She has only one tusk, the temperament of someone with a perpetual toothache, and though childless, a fiercely protective attitude when it comes to her nieces and nephews.  Her name is Moja.  Moja means One.

Of the ten elephants of Chada camp who would eventually become known as the Mahoneys, Moja was the most dangerous by far.  She was the least likely to mock charge us in camp, and countless times our determination to stand our ground was thwarted by her real attempts to hurt us.  Retreat was the only choice.

It would take a truly remarkable intervention, much later, for Moja to calm down...

Meet the Mahoneys - Chapter III - Marshmallow and Mini Me

 While we constantly saw this family of ten elephants around camp, we were getting to know each of them individually as they chanced to encounter us up close and personally.  At this point, we were wondering if aggression was going to be their main form of communication.

And then we met Marshmallow and Mini Me.  Everyone knows that mothers of young calves are the most dangerous elephants in the bush, and this female standing in front of us outside the camp office had a one-year-old baby by her side.  

 We braced for a charge and were ready to back into the office doorway, but she just stood there looking at us without showing even a hint of threatening behaviour.  Because of her mellowness, her young son was free to explore near us, and to satisfy his curiosity by walking so close to us that we often had to back away.

Despite how tempting it was to make a pet out of this little guy, even while his mother stood mere metres away feeding, the last thing anyone wants is a giant, tame playmate five years down the road who fears no one.  That would not have been in his best interest.

And that is how we came to meet and name Marshmallow and Mini Me.  Four down and six to go, we thought.

Meet the Mahoneys-Chapter II-Mkorofi

Soon after our less-than-civil encounter with “Maasai,” the large female elephant with a hole in her ear, we met another member of the family.  He was a twenty-year-old male with an attitude, and I was lucky to be armed with my camera when he decided to introduce himself.

 

As I walked from the kitchen to the Library tent, this young bull stepped out of the bushes and challenged me.  The next two photos were shot in a bit of a frenzy, while back-pedaling and hoping he would stop short of hitting me...

 

 

...which he did, kicking up dust, spreading his ears out wide to intimidate me.  He then struck a striking pose for the camera as I talked softly to him, hoping the sound of a gentle voice would calm him down.  

 

In those early days of our time at Chada camp, we named him Mkorofi, which roughly translates to "Trouble maker."  He would eventually live that name down and become one of our most trusted elephants, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  More to come...