Large elephant herd drinks out of safari swimming pool

Sitting in the comfort of your own plunge pool while admiring the African wildlife in front of you is a holiday experience never to be forgotten. Having the African wildlife come to your pool for a drink, like these elephants did, is a whole different and unforgettable experience on its own.

During a recent break away weekend, my wife and I decided to treat ourselves to a safari lodge in the Greater Kruger area of South Africa. With the current pandemic there are unfortunately no international tourists currently coming on safari in South Africa and all safari lodges have dropped their prices to make it more attractive for the domestic travel market. We decided to take advantage of this and even got ourselves into a room that had a plunge pool in front of it. It was sheer luxury in our minds and nothing beats sitting in your own private plunge pool on a hot summer day while viewing the wild animals in the distance.

It was one of those hot afternoons and we decided not to go on safari but rather relax at the comfort of our room and swimming pool. I just got comfortable in the pool when I noticed a large herd of elephants in the distance. I got out to get my camera. On my return I got back into the pool and realised that the elephant herd was slowly making their way towards my direction. At first, they looked a little nervous and I just remained quiet sitting in the back corner of the pool. Before I knew it, the front part of the large elephant herd walked right up to the swimming pool, reached with their trunks over the edge of the pool and started drinking water from the swimming pool. I could not believe what I was seeing in front of me.

It was like I did not even exist and the elephants continued drinking from the pool. There was even a little baby elephant among the herd but the little elephant unfortunately could not reach the pool water with its trunk. The elephants rotated and majority of the herd had their fair share of water which also left the pool with more than a third of its water consumed. The herd eventually moved on with their journey leaving me totally stunned with my close experience with these incredible giants.