The Mango Eating Elephants of Mfuwe Lodge

Every year, between late October and mid-December a family of elephants arrives at Mfuwe Lodge in the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia to consume the wild mango (Cordyla Africana) fruits, which fall from a tree just beyond the open-plan lobby. 

An intrepid matriarch called Wonky Tusk (named for her backward-facing tusk) was responsible for teaching her family to seek out the delicious fruits over a decade ago. Undeterred by the fact that the safari lodge is in their path, the elephants carefully traverse the vaulted thatched reception area, negotiating the tiled steps – why walk around when you can take a short cut through the lobby?

Three generations of this elephant family return every year and their behavior is the cause of much amusement with television coverage, news articles and even a children's book. 

Wonky Tusk's offspring, Lord Wellington, was born in the lodge grounds in 2009, and at just two days old took his first steps into the lodge. He is known for removing a pen or two from the reception desk with his trunk!

Andy Hogg, director of the Bushcamp Company, which runs Mfuwe Lodge, says that the elephants stay at the lodge for about four to six weeks, usually returning every day to eat the mangoes. "This is the only place in the world where elephants freely get so close to humans," he reports.

Lodge manager Ian Salisbury says "there's great excitement when the elephants walk though, but the elephants are usually very relaxed and pay little attention to people, so much so they have been known to fall asleep here!"