Page 30 - Waterfall January 2022
P. 30
Waterfall nature
ARE ELEphAnTs
FARming in
kRugER pARk?
The instinctive, genetic programming of elephants
seems to be transforming the landscape
By James Clarke, Photographs by Mary Broadley
i f you enter kruger Park at Phabani
Gate near Hazyview and travel east
towards Skukuza, you reach, after
4km, a crossroads. If you turn right
there on to the S3 towards Pretoriuskop,
you’ll notice a phenomenon that
is puzzling many scientists.
There are several marula trees along
that route, each standing alone
and hundreds of metres apart, as
marulas tend to do. They are sturdy,
easily-recognisable trees with single
trunks that branch out halfway up
to support a dome-shaped crown.
The trunks have a mottled, flaky grey
bark and, in winter, their branches
end in characteristic finger-like stubs
rather than conventional twigs.
In February, a mature marula can
produce half-a-ton of highly nutritious
sweet, damson-sized berries full
of vitamin C. These berries are the
basis of South Africa’s great liqueur
export, Amarula, a velvety smooth
cream liqueur that can sell for
anything from R150 - R200 a bottle.
Elephants devour the marula
berries, sometimes to the
exclusion of anything else.
What is particularly noticeable along
this road is that many of the marula
trees are dead. They have been
snapped off near their bases, others
have been severely damaged.
What’s happening?
