South Luangwa is one of the largest parks in South Africa.
Its peculiarity is that animals, including such large ones as elephants, feel very comfortable here.
They often come quite close to people’s homes. Wild elephants, for example, are frequent guests of Andy Hogg.
A large mango tree grows near his house, which is visited every year during the fruiting period (from October to December) by a family of elephants.
They make their way to the tree along the same path, so they no longer surprise the owner.
But recently, Andy Hogg was visited by an unfamiliar elephant, who decided to get to the tree in an unusual way.
A huge animal got into the camera lenses at the moment when it began to climb over a high fence.
He seemed to want very much to get to the mango tree in order to taste the delicious fruit.
It can be assumed that the animal did not know another way, and therefore chose the shortest one.
What impressed the owner and Ian Salisbury, general manager of South Luangwa most of all, was that the elephant did everything slowly and very carefully.
Although he was probably hungry, since he decided on such an adventure.
And no one interfered with his journey – the tourists who stopped here at that moment were on an excursion.
Finally reaching the tree, the elephant found that there were no fruits on it – the season had already ended, and the last mangoes must have been eaten by his relatives.
Stretching and looking around, he nibbled on the grass, after which, disappointed, he went back the same way.
The elephant again carefully climbed over the fence, without breaking anything or scaring anyone.
According to Salisbury, it looked very funny: the clumsy male rose quite high, which is not quite typical for such large animals.