Marvellous Spirit Of Youth And Wildful Mood Initiated By Mayafudi The Elephant To Kruger National Park Tourists
When the youthful Mayafudi blew off steam like a locomotive, vigorously flapped his ears and raised a cloud of dust when he stamped his left foot repeatedly, it was an awesome sight. Only the brave could withstand the urge to flee from his presence. Only an enlightened few knew that he was really a kind-hearted soul who gave this performance without any rancour in his heart.
The young bull was known for his adherence to the best values of the elephant kingdom. He was also very popular on account of his love of life and sense of humour which was never hidden deep underneath his thick, coarse skin.
As a youth he was well known for his mastery of the water canon. In his teens he became a past master at mock-attacks. Not many of his species, large or small, could emulate this manoeuvre of his to frighten people.
He seemed to have been born for the stage. He loved posing as dead. A female tourist once took the bait and enquired from a game ranger what an elephant looked like when he slept. No, her “sleeping” elephant was not leaning against a tree or a river bank. He was lying in the veld only about twenty metres from the road. He lay motionless on his left side. It was mid-morning.
The ranger and a friend hurried to the scene. Lo and behold, there he lay. Exactly as the woman had said, they found the huge beast lying in an open spot.
But where were the vultures?
Their total absence seemed strange. Nothing else indicated that matters were not what they seemed to be, however. The ranger and his friend advanced very slowly and cautiously until they touched the “dead” bull.
The friend lit his pipe and expressed the wish to pose with his foot on the carcass. At that moment Mayafudi chose to jump up and stand erect. His ears made a big sweep. With a loud snort he aimed at the two very surprised men. “Maaifoedie!” – one saw just two khaki stripes disappearing at great speed along a much frequented footpath. Mayafudi must have enjoyed every moment. Animals Feel Lonely and Isolated After The Fire Destroyed the Sabie Park and Left Nothing to Graze On
The traumatic day arrived that Mayafudi also had to receive a radio collar for research. A scoline dart sent him to dreamland. The potent drug had a paralysing effect. The respiratory muscles were affected, causing suffocation
An experienced team took his measurements. Various tests were done. But then followed a repeat of what happened to his grandfather Mafunyane. A rapid antidote was administered. Nothing happened. Another dose was given. Then a triple dose. But Mayafudi was dead to the world.
The team became embarrassed. They moved around the “sleeping” elephant. Suddenly he jumped erect, young and sprightly. Not unsteady at all. Full of fight. Like a bull with a flea in his ear.
He suddenly trumpetted loudly. He was wide awake. Everyone shouldered everyone else to escape this menace. One of the researchers, at a safe distance, could have sworn that he saw the large elephant winking a sly little eye. “You wanted to mess with my grandpa – and now with me”, he seemed to say.
Since a tender age, Mayafudi was fascinated by bicycles. Since the day Dumisa Sibuya gave him his name and went flying off his bicycle, this two-wheeler became an irresistable temptation. He soon discovered that cyclists, despite the rifles across their shoulders, still felt rather helpless and afraid. When they got a fright, it was a proper one. Everything they carried was quickly disposed of, their forefathers were loudly hailed and frantic rushes to and into the nearest trees became commonplace. Sometimes they glided over mopane and other shrubs like champion hurdlers.
A common trick of Mayafudi’s was to wait quietly behind the dense foliage of a camouflaging tree, until the cyclists was virtually on him. He would then move forward nonchalantly. Time and again this surprise strategy would produce amusing results.
Mayafudi's Stunts
One afternoon a couple from Johannesburg – it was still TJ days – tried out their expensive, imported four by four vehicle on a firebreak. Many tourists seem to be of the opinion that game is plentiful behind these no-entrance signs.
Mayafudi’s herd crossed the road two by two, some twenty metres ahead of them. The visitors saw them and approached cautiously to photograph the procession. The mischievous Mayafudi immediately saw an opportunity for some fun.
The visitors were too late for photographs. When they arrived on the scene, the elephants had already disappeared in the undergrowth. The visitors turned back towards the legal road. At that very moment Mayafudi stepped out from behind a tree. Directly in front of the vehicle. He came to a halt hard up against the bonnet, causing an impenetrable wall with legs like tree trunks and a massive trunk swaying menacingly back and forth. He rocked on his legs, seemingly ready to rush at any moment. Elephants Experiencing Conflict After The Kruger Fire and Wonder If Humans Are Animals Friends Or!!!
“Peter, beware”, the woman from Johannesburg yelled. Miriam was desperate. The poor man frantically searched for the reverse gear. At that critical moment the engine stalled.
Mayafudi was now near enough to push his trunk through the window and grab the ignition key if he wanted to. To the gasping female, the moment was too much. Her nerves could not cope with the threatening proximity of the elephant’s eyes. She gave one suppressed yell and performed an inelegant back flip over the front seat. Flat on the floor between the front and back seats, the buxom Miriam made herself as tiny as possible. Her wet pants clung to her legs. A Huge, Roaring Fire Exacts Its Toll In The Game Reserve Than The Elephant Kingdom Had Ever Experienced
Peter became pale from fright. Cold perspiration stood on his entire body. Even on his bald head. His jaws moved as if he wanted to say something, but he seemed to have left his voice in the rest camp, together with his common sense. With his right hand he attempted to start the car. The hand, however, seemed incapable of obeying the urgent message from his brain.
Mayafudi stood immobile like the statute of Oom Paul Kruger at the Kruger Gate
For more than an hour the two badly shaken visitors from Johannesburg were imprisoned in their four by four. Mayafudi was their prison warden. There was no other traffic in the vicinity. All this occurred on a deserted firebreak, far from the road.
The pair consoled themselves to the fact that they would have to brave the night without food or even a sundowner. Then Mayafudi slowly raised his trunk in short stages. It seemed as if he wanted to smash the windscreen with his enormous trunk, but on second thoughts he started moving slowly behind the rest of the herd.
There might have been more than one sly wink, however, Peter and Miriam did not notice.
Mayafudi was in an even more wilful mood, when, between the rest camps Crocodile Bridge and Lower Sabie, he gave two British ladies the fright of their lives. These two, who were non-drinkers, polished off one double brandy after another from beer mugs, after this incident was over. The Kruger Park Is Flooded With Heavy Water and Many of The Animals Loose Their Lives.
In elephant annals, this story, like the story of Mafunyane, became legendary. Even humans documented it as such. The ladies were on a visit to a relative, a game ranger stationed at Crocodile Bridge. One afternoon they borrowed his Volkswagen Beetle and started their visit to Lower Sabie, where they intended buying some souvenirs. But twenty minutes after sunset, long after the gate was locked at Crocodile Bridge, they had not yet returned. The worried ranger decided to start searching for them.
Near the Gomondwane windmill, he noticed a light flickering. On and off, on and off. As he neared the light he saw it belonged to his Volkswagen. It also meant that the car was in reverse gear and that the on-off motion was brought about by the fact that a young elephant bull was peacefully rocking the car to and fro.
That bull was Mayafudi – who else – during an excursion in that direction. The elephant brought the two visiting ladies to a halt about four kilometres from the Vurhami bridge. He then proceeded to prod their vehicle for more than sixteen kilometres in reverse gear in the direction of Lower Sabie. He kept on in the middle of the road, at a slow and measured pace. A Sad Farewell To A Member Of The Elephant Aristocracy Of The Game Reserve
This elephant only decided to leave the scene of consternation, when the ranger wildly waved his arms and among a deluge of expletives ran forward to save his aunts. Those visitors to “darkest Africa’ never again wanted to see an elephant – not even on a photograph.
Elephants don’t have cameras. Mayafudi, however, did not require a photograph to remind him of those shocked faces and saucer like eyes. It was indelibly etched on his mischievous memory.
*This anecdote of the wilful giant appeared i.a. in Die Veldwagters Vertel, 78 true stories from our national parks by Jan Roderigues. What the author was not aware of, was that the culprit was Mayafudi. HvD