Meet Boswell, the Elephant Who Stands on His Hind Legs

Why am I going into so much detail about my life? Well, hopefully to give you the impression that even though I’m only in my early thirties, I have seen a lot when it comes to safaris in Southern Africa and I have some pretty amazing animal sightings in the bank. I’m extremely fortunate to be at a stage of safari where pretty much anything interests me, as long as I am out in the bush. I delight in the quirky, rare, interesting behavior of wildlife, no matter how big or small – great guiding can also make up for what could be a quiet game-viewing day.

I also feel privileged in that I don’t need to rush out to try to see the Big Five and tick boxes. This is why, when I was sent out to Zimbabwe on a recent YZ work trip, I wasn’t totally absorbed with the idea of heading out to try to spot a bull elephant who is known to go up on his back legs. People had told me that this is an impressive sight, but I knew I’d still be very content with observing interesting behavior from impala or perhaps admiring a strangler fig slowly taking over its host tree.

That said, one day in Mana Pools, we did head out in the morning with the aim of spotting Zimbabwe’s most famous bull elephant, Boswell. Our guide did a fantastic job of showing off his own interests when he spotted a bat hawk out of the corner of his eye. The passion he has for birding was clear, and we spent the next 20 minutes out of the vehicle positioning ourselves in the best position to take a good photograph of this very rare bird (which, admittedly, I did not know much about) while the rest of our group stayed on the vehicle wondering what all the fuss was about. They did, however, have a fantastic sighting of their own – a well-known Sky News TV reporter sitting on another vehicle and going the other way. I have luckily weaned myself off live TV news, and therefore wasn’t too excited by him.

After all of this divided excitement, we headed on to try to find this now-famous (thanks to YouTube) ‘Iconic’ bull of Mana Pools – and from chatting to another guide on the way, it seemed that he was in the area and we were on the right track. Boswell the bull is one of the best in the game at getting onto two sturdy back legs and reaching high up into the canopy. This isn’t something that comes easily to a five-ton animal with a very forward center of gravity. I was soon to see why Boswell’s center of gravity is so far forward – he has an outstanding pair of tusks.

As we had an increased chance of success on our mission, I started to get excited about this potential sight (and excited that our marketing team might get a couple of good videos and pictures of it)! We pulled up and parked under a magnificent winterthorn tree. I was almost left behind by my fellow walkers as I was planted there, admiring the sheer beauty and character of just one tree. But it was time to walk out towards the depths of the park, continuing the search for Boswell.

The scenery in this part of the world is simply superb – there are magnificent tall and characterful trees, dark mud-coloured soils, and lots of subtle yet also pronounced gullies and ridges. Without doubt, it’s one of the most beautiful areas I have walked in. It feels almost primeval, although it’s full of life. Off in the distance, one of our group spotted a group of male elephants, and quite clearly leading the group was Boswell. I say leading, but they were basically milling around in a fairly open grove of winterthorn trees, the tree of choice for Boswell and his like when going up on their hind legs.