Red-Faced Elephants

In our first days of game drives, it became our custom to call out whenever we spotted a new animal. Towards end of day in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania I saw a motion off the corner of my eye and called out “elephants,” and immediately felt foolish because on second glance, I though I was seeing a termite mound, but then at THIRD glance it really was these crazy elephants with their red faces, marching over a hill towards us.

It turns out that elephants eat dirt to get minerals in their diet. And that’s how these elephants got their faces and ears all red--rooting in the dirt for minerals.