Video: Watch as Elephants “Check In” at a Lodge in Zambia

Candice Gaukel Andrews Mar 31, 2016

Some describe the bond between a baby elephant and its mother as the closest of any of the animals on Earth. If the baby is female, she will likely stay with her mother into adulthood and until the mother dies. Males stay with their mothers until about the age of 12. ©Maggie Kareus

The saying goes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But what about elephants?

When the builders of a five-star lodge in Zambia constructed their hotel over an ancient elephant path, they assumed the pachyderms that annually used the trail in order to get to the area’s bountiful mango tree would reroute their course. The elephants, however, had another idea. Every spring, when the mango fruits ripen, a matriarch that locals call “Wonky Tusk” leads her group straight through the hotel lobby to reach the delicacies beyond.

*Every spring, a herd of elephants walks through the lobby of a five-star lodge in Zambia. It was built over an ancient elephant path. ©Video by Lion Mountain TV*

Although elephants in the wild can be unpredictable, Wonky Tusk and her herd walk through the lodge’s lobby so gracefully and relaxed that not a thing is disturbed. To see this unusual phenomenon for himself, wildlife photographer Nathan Pilcher went to Zambia to film the spectacle.

His timing was fortuitous. During the spring he was there, Nathan saw Wonky Tusk come through as expected—but this time, a two-week-old baby followed close on her heels. Since an elephant with a brand-new baby to protect from predators is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, no one knew if the youngster’s presence would dramatically change the other elephants’ behavior.