A new life at Gwango
Oct 17, 2024
What started as a regular day at Gwango Heritage Resort quickly turned into something we’ll be talking about for years! Nicolas, from our Front Office team at Gwango Heritage Resort was in the middle of a routine camp orientation for guests that had just arrived. As he took them through the usual stroll around our raised swimming pool - things took a sudden and wild turn (which around here they often do). There seemed to be a huge commotion underway, just a few meters away, at the watering hole. This is not uncommon with elephants - but on this day the drama seemed to be unusually elevated.
Naturally, the guests and Nicolas (probably sprinting and forgetting ALL the camp rules at this point) rushed to check out the action. Several young female elephants were rumbling and trumpeting, but not in their usual ‘let’s spook the tourists’ mischievious way. Something huge was happening!!!
The herd’s behavior gave it away - one cow was about to give birth, right here - right now in camp! If you know anything about elephants, you’ll know they don’t do things passively. The entire herd circled around the expectant mum - in the most coordinated of team huddles you’ve ever seen.
Just moments later, the most adorable baby elephant made a grand entrance into the world and the entire herd seemd to jumped swiftly into action, dusting sand off the newborn. They also seemed to be orchestrating a fortress to keep predators from getting any ideas. And just as we thought things couldn’t get more magical, they let out huge trumpets of joy that echoed so loud they must have been heard clear across Hwange!! Honestly, we couldn’t help but jump for joy and join in on the celebration ourselves. And let me tell you, we fought really hard to resist the urge to run down to the water hole and scoop up the little fella (imagine Nicolas holding the baby elephant up towards the sky like Simba in The Lion King..OOHH.. nevermind!! That couldn't happen - do you know how much a baby elephant weighs???).
For hours, the herd stuck around, making sure the tiny newborn (who was actually not so tiny - but seemed tiny compared to the rest of the clan) got its very wobbly legs working. You could feel the determination as the baby lumbered over to its siblings and gave this walking thing a try. By the time they moved on, our new friend had gone from shaky steps to walking like an old pro.
If ever you want to witness the true magic of nature, Gwango certainly is the place. Even we (who live here) are sometimes surprised by how up close and dramatic nature. Front-row seats to an elephant birth, complete with the emotive choir of trumpeting and wobbly first steps is a heartening scene we won’t soon forget.
.. at Gwango, life is anything but ordinary!