It was a very hot Summer’s afternoon, with temperatures reaching close on 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Myself and my tracker Pat were determined to find a big herd of elephants for our very enthusiastic guests who had until that point only seen a few bulls here and there. We knew the heat would draw them to water, so we zig-zagged through the southern side of our reserve and checked on several watering holes.

As we were making our way to a fairly large dam, we came across a massive breeding herd of more than 50 individuals moving at a very quick pace, straight towards the watering hole.

They had some incredibly small calves with them, that were clearly struggling with the heat and the pace of the herd.

A large female suddenly stopped close to our vehicle, with her calf next to her and did something I had only ever read about in textbooks.

Elephants have what is known as a pharyngeal pouch just behind the tongue. This pouch can store several litres of water at a time and the water within can be regurgitated and sucked up by the trunk to then spray it over the body and ears to help cool them down. Alternatively, the water can be drunk in desperate times (commonly done by desert elephants where water sources are long distances from each other). Image source: Google

Pat and I looked at each other and then back at the female and calf. We couldn’t believe our eyes!

She sprayed the water behind her ears (cooling down the large veins, and effectively cooling down the blood that was to be sent back into the body), and then also put her trunk in her calf’s mouth to provide it with the water it desperately needed.

They were no more than a 5-minute walk away from the watering hole, but the heat on that particular afternoon proved too much and provided us with such a rare sighting.

We followed the herd to the watering hole and watched them quench their thirst and play in the water for about 45 minutes thereafter.

Just another day in Africa...