Animal Encounters - The Eland

The Kudu  -smaller than an elk.

I begin my narrative by making a few comparisons of size. The Wapiti or Elk, commonly hunted or seen by tourists in North American protective areas is the second largest deer species – the Moose being the largest. The males of both species display prominent antlers that are shed each year. An average bull elk can weigh 700lbs (320kg) or more while the bull moose can weigh over 1,500lbs (730kg).  Females weigh considerably less than males with elk cows weighing around 500lbs and moose cows about 800lbs.

The Wapiti or Elk

The Moose, the largest of the deer species.

There are many species of antelope in Africa and most are characterized by both males and females having distinctive “horns.”  Horns, unlike antlers, are permanent bone growths and are not shed in winter as are antlers. In size, the elk is fairly close to the African Kudu.  A kudu bull with his great set of spiral horns can weigh over 600lbs (270kg).  The biggest of them all is the African Eland, which is even heavier than the moose.  An eland bull will often weigh in over 2,000lbs while the female, or cow, will average over 1,000lbs – heavier than the longer-legged moose female.  The Eland’s horns are not particularly impressive, growing to be up to 2ft long in the male, but their large bodies and regal demeanor make them stand out.

The Eland - males like this one may weigh over 2,000lbs

Visitors to Africa don’t often see a lot of Eland.  They are typically not seen in herds as large as those of impala and wildebeest, and they are more wary than many of their antelope cousins.  In my travels in Africa I have not seen eland very often and on those several occasions they have been at a distance and in small numbers.

In October 1966 I was on an assignment to the north of Hwange Game Reserve in Zimbabwe.  I was driving a Land Rover along on a rough track in an area known as the Matetsi Game Corridor. The vegetation was thick and the terrain was very hilly with many rock outcrops. I was following a game fence that led in a north-south direction.  It was a standard seven foot high game fence made up of sturdy mopani posts, each 10-12 inches thick, at 15 meter intervals, and six strands of wire, stretched taut between them.  Although the fence ran straight through the hilly country, the road would parallel the fence for a short distance before curving away to go around a hill or rocky feature, then returning to follow the fence line.

As I drove slowly along the west side of the fence I was stopping periodically to verify compass bearings and mark the fence alignment on a 1:50000 scale map before continuing my slow progress. Quite unexpectedly when the road took me back to the fence at one point there was an eland calf running ahead of me on the track. He was on my side of the fence and trying to get through it by running into the wire.  The reason became obvious when his mother, a huge eland cow suddenly appeared on the other side of the fence.  Somehow the calf had managed to get through the strands of the fence and was now separated from its mother.

Now, as I drove slowly behind them, probably at about 10-15 mph, they continued to run away from me and the mother was testing the fence by pressing up against it, clearly trying to reach her calf. We came onto a flat area where the road was visible for quite a distance ahead.  Suddenly the mother turned away from the fence, took a few long strides to gain speed and turned sharply to her left, lifted her massive body, and without breaking stride rose up and jumped over the fence as though it wasn’t even there.  As her hindquarters crossed the top strand of wire, she touched it lightly with one of her hooves as though measuring herself, before landing easily on the far side and within seconds, she and her calf were galloping away into the thick acacia shrub.

It happened so quickly, but seeing that huge antelope, probably weighing around 1,000lbs, clear that 7ft. fence so effortlessly remains in my memory as one of the most remarkable things I have ever witnessed.  I should mention that when seen so close up, an eland seems huge; a grown female stands over 5ft tall (1.54M) at the shoulder.  My camera lay forgotten on the passenger seat to my left.  My journey that day took me on to the Kazungula Road and the village at Victoria Falls.  After a meal and a cold beer I walked down the hill and visited the Victoria Falls for the first of many times.