One day while we were driving across the reserve to visit a bird hide, we encountered an elephant on the dusty road just ahead of us. As we drew near, one elephant became two, and before long two became four. We brought the vehicle to a stop as we realized we were in the middle of a heard of 30-40 elephants.
The heard, led by a matriarch ranges in age but consists mostly of females. Only young bulls who are still being reared remain with the heard. Adult bull elephants roam alone in search of possible mates.
The adult females work together to raise their young. They're intelligent and have an old soul feel about them.

Their offspring are fiercely protected by the entire heard.

An adult female feeding.

The secretion at this elephant's temple is hormonal.

Sitting amongst such intelligent, symbolic animals was one of the greatest honors I've known.