And be in no doubt that this is not a zoo or a theme park. The rifle carried by chief guide Sipho Mpofu is a .458 caliber, capable of stopping a lion, a Cape buffalo or a wild elephant, all of which abound in the territory. The safari elephants are attuned to gunfire and won't panic if Mpofu has to shoot. Anyway, it would take more than a gunshot to interrupt feeding. A full-grown elephant needs up to 400 pounds of food a day, which means they eat for 18 hours out of 24.
Snack time is any time.
When they're not working, the safari elephants roam free and eat. And there's nothing anyone can do if one decides to give up its day job and join a wild herd, which a female recently did. She was free, she was in an area where there was a lot of food and water, yet she chose to come home. And that's probably the greatest thing that's happened in the five years that we've had them. What will happen five years from now is anyone's guess.