The Kruger Park Is Flooded With Heavy Water and Many of The Kruger Animals Loose Their Lives

Two years of abundance made his heart sing and cured the pain caused by the death of Mayafudi’s mother. Then a second catastrophe struck. Not too little water, but too much. The worst flood in 100 years. During a sopping wet January, 200 mm were measured. In February a further 450 mm drenched the Bushveld.

Elephants are very fond of rain. They love playing in the water and squirting at one another, trumpetting exuberantly. But Mayafudi had never seen so much water. The Sabie River became a wild whirlpool of brown muddy water. The elephants could not believe their eyes when they gathered on the river bank to watch the terrific onslaught of nature.

The water level kept rising. In a terrible deluge on a Monday morning in February the otherwise calm Sabie became uncontrollable.

At 08.00 the record flood level of many years was overtaken. A quarter of an hour later – at 08.15 – it seemed the worst had passed. Then came a second, mightier flood at 10.15. Within twenty heart-stopping moments the brown wall of water rose higher and higher … one metre, 1.5 metres, two metres. This continued until 15.00. Only then the water level started abating. A Sad Farewell To A Member Of The Elephant Aristocracy Of The Game Reserve

Mayafudi and his herd stared in wonderment on the riverbank. The picnic spot of the park at this stage was an angry sea. Giant trees cracked and tumbled down like matchsticks. The roofs of holiday homes looked like little islands above the wild water. The river walk with its wealth of trees, where Ukuthula often took her herd, was wiped out.

The herd watched in wonder and disbelief how trees, windows, doors, furniture, fridges and stoves were dragged along by the muddy water. Some animals were also caught up in the storm: bushbuck, impala, waterbuck, baboon, a kudu bull carrying two magnificent antlers … Some of the baboons were still alive. They held on for dear life to tree trunks that sped at breathtaking speed. It could be comical if it was not so tragic.

“Come!” Matcheleni, the new matriarch, led her herd at a trot to the Kruger Gate to assess the damage. Here too, Mayafudi saw a sight he will never forget. A water-spectacle of a life time.

Not a trace remained of the bridge. Its steel railing were drowned under a flood level of up to two metres higher than the tar of the road. The massive monument of Paul Kruger, a well-known beacon to the visitors, was in water up to his shoulders.

Then Mayafudi saw among the flood debris an enormous dark body of a lifeless elephant bull. The length of the tusks and the contours of the body suddenly seemed like Moholoholo. Was it or was it not? The question struck Mayafudi like a dart from the sky.

Moholoholo, now in his sixties, had left the herd soon after Ukuthula’s death. Mayafudi knew that he had lived along the Doispane road near Phabeni Gate. He was a loner. The corpse in the river could be him. Maybe he was overpowered when he went down to the river for a drink of water during the storm. Remembering Ukuthula’s Grave & The Elephants Who Died In The Kruger Park

On the other hand, Mayafudi knew that elephants could detect disasters over long distances. They seemed to have a sixth sense which warned them to flee timeously. Even during the dreaded tsunamis of South East Asia, many elephants, and scores of human lives were saved due to this sixth sense. Elephants evidently knew what was going to happen. They then fled to higher ground with the loads on their back.

Did the lifeless elephant drown in the flood waters or not? Was the carcass driven downstream after he had died? Mayafudi could only guess. The fear that it was his aged sire who had found a watery grave would not leave him.

Mayafudi was becoming a dominant bull in the herd

At that stage Mayafudi was very close to being the dominant bull in the herd. He had certain responsibilities which he could not neglect. However, for days he left the herd and kept on searching in the rain which had started again. He searched among the giant trunks of age-old trees that had lost the battle against the flood. He searched the new sand banks, the silt, branches that were torn off, shrubs that were squashed and other debris. No sign was to be seen of the elephant with the enormous tusks. A Huge, Roaring Fire Exacts Its Toll In The Game Reserve Than The Elephant Kingdom Had Ever Experienced

He would never again see Moholoholo, the champion story-teller. Nobody had seen a trace of him. He had simply vanished from the face of the earth. Whether his last journey brought him to Mozambique, Mayafudi would never know.

The loss and tragic final farewell filled him with sadness. But it also strengthened his determination. He would do everything to become the dominant bull of his herd. In this way he would bring honour to his late sire who never reached that stage, and never aspired to become the dominant bull, as he was quite content to live in the shadow of his famous wife, Ukuthula.