Africa Wild

Agreed, Peter!

But check the side view on the Travel Tale!

aat wrote:Hi my friend
Good to hear the tuskers already are getting together... 2 weeks to go before take-off to kruger
Really curious for the may be Machachule pics. A bit of a look-alike is Nkokodzi (from a distance).
Last sighting (as far as I know) for Machachule was in 2012, where he was very thin.

okie wrote:Hi Aat and all other tusker fans Writing this from Shingwedzi , which it seems must be the tusker head-office of Kruger National Park .
Elephants , elephants everywhere , and I love them all . Had some nice sightings , and then some very very nice ones of biggies - ---at least three of the "named " ones - still to check out my pics to confirm , but possibly the following Ngodzi , Mpenza ( single tusk only ) , Machachule ( or one very similar to him ) ??? .

Aat , yes , as I mentioned he looks similar , and may very well be Nkokodsi . Unfortunately I cannot check properly at present , because my own internet connection on my laptop is giving problems ,and I am using my SO's laptop for this . But will certainly check when I get home at weekend .

But in any event , yes , it appears the biggies are coming out of the bush . You can usually see them late afternoons at or near water , and even in groups . One group I saw at Boyela w/hole near Babalala consisted of about 8 or 9 bulls , all good sizes . Including one with very big tusks ( looked somewhat like Mavatsani ) , but he was quite far away , and turned away before I could get any photographs of him .

Speaking of good-size bulls , I mentioned to you previously , it seems those youngsters of mid- nineteen eighties , when SANparks stopped culling , are now all reaching late maturity ( around 35 - 45 years old ) , and I think that over the next 10 to 15 years , we will see many many big tuckers emerging .
Just think what wonderful sightings there will be then -- if we are still around at that time

Whooh! Saw the same bunch at Boyela two weeks ago! Glad you agree, okie!

We'll be around in 15 years, don't worry!

Yeahhh , but I'm a little older than you , and I have some doubts about me lasting for another 15

Modern medical technology!

Flutterby,
He is not known to me so far. Please send the pics so I can add them to the database. Difficult to "judge" his tusks. Hope I can get more entries of him or see him myself in a few weeks time...mmmmm that sounds good while I am writing this.

[quote="Flutterby"]Hi Aat,

We saw this fellow on the 16th October 2014 on the H1-2 not far from Tshokwane. A possible up and coming tusker?

Okie,
Thanks for the update. Less then 2 weeks for take-off to kruger and this time landing at Skukuza airport.... so arriving with a view over Kruger...
I am not thinking too much about the next 10 to 15 years... next trip is in 2 weeks time and all these entries/submissions today keep me busy enough. I really hope to see some tuskers during the trip. We stay 6 nights in Mopani so we will have some drives to Babalala and Punda.
I just added a new feature to the tusker site as a helping hand for ID'ing. Try out is Mandzemba's page where you can click to ID page. After our trip I will add this feature to most tusker pages, with the best ID pictures to make it easier to recognize the tuskers...like detailed ear, tusk an/or trunk...depends on the ID marks.
Sample Mandzemba:
http://www.tuskersofafrica.com/tuskersnw/mandzemba.htm

Safe journey back and send me some pics of this tusker , really curious...

okie wrote:

aat wrote:Hi my friend
Good to hear the tuskers already are getting together... 2 weeks to go before take-off to kruger
Really curious for the may be Machachule pics. A bit of a look-alike is Nkokodzi (from a distance).
Last sighting (as far as I know) for Machachule was in 2012, where he was very thin.

okie wrote:Hi Aat and all other tusker fans Writing this from Shingwedzi , which it seems must be the tusker head-office of Kruger National Park .
Elephants , elephants everywhere , and I love them all . Had some nice sightings , and then some very very nice ones of biggies - ---at least three of the "named " ones - still to check out my pics to confirm , but possibly the following Ngodzi , Mpenza ( single tusk only ) , Machachule ( or one very similar to him ) ??? .

Aat , yes , as I mentioned he looks similar , and may very well be Nkokodsi . Unfortunately I cannot check properly at present , because my own internet connection on my laptop is giving problems ,and I am using my SO's laptop for this . But will certainly check when I get home at weekend .

But in any event , yes , it appears the biggies are coming out of the bush . You can usually see them late afternoons at or near water , and even in groups . One group I saw at Boyela w/hole near Babalala consisted of about 8 or 9 bulls , all good sizes . Including one with very big tusks ( looked somewhat like Mavatsani ) , but he was quite far away , and turned away before I could get any photographs of him .

Speaking of good-size bulls , I mentioned to you previously , it seems those youngsters of mid- nineteen eighties , when SANparks stopped culling , are now all reaching late maturity ( around 35 - 45 years old ) , and I think that over the next 10 to 15 years , we will see many many big tuckers emerging .
Just think what wonderful sightings there will be then -- if we are still around at that time

aat wrote:Flutterby,
He is not known to me so far. Please send the pics so I can add them to the database. Difficult to "judge" his tusks. Hope I can get more entries of him or see him myself in a few weeks time...mmmmm that sounds good while I am writing this.

I have emailed the pics to you.

Hi Aat,

We saw this female at Nsemani Dam on 16/10/2014. She has some nice tusks...not sure if they are considered worthy of making her a big tusker(ess).

Idd nice tusks for a lady. I think there is quit an number of cows with tusks like these. I have this same "struggling" sometimes with the (potential) tuskers, quit a lot of them with reasonable tusks (looks almost like a whole generation is getting in their 40+ years) where tusks are going to grow relatively fast. Specially in the Mopani / Shingwedzi regions. I think I have to be more selective with taking them on the tusker site. That's one of the reasons to have this Potential tusker section... kind of pre-selection.

Flutterby wrote:Hi Aat,

We saw this female at Nsemani Dam on 16/10/2014. She has some nice tusks...not sure if they are considered worthy of making her a big tusker(ess).