*How* did the elephants cross the road?

So, we're were in Murchison National Park and came
across about a dozen elephants. They were maybe 50 yards
from the road. Water was on the other side so they
had to cross it, but we were sitting there gawking
at them. Over the next 5-10 minutes they formed and
implemented a strategy. Here they are:



They bunched together in a tight group and headed
for the road.



First they sent an adolescent across. The flapping ears
are supposedly a warning.





Then the mothers came across shielding the babies from us.



The last one was an adolescent too.




Finally, when they were across the road one of them stared
us down and made sure we didn't follow them into the tall grass.





Later on we saw this bird





and these lions. I got out of the car to take pictures of the
elephants, but stayed inside for the lions!