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In southern
Ghana, I had frequently seen the cattle egrets following herds of cattle.
At Mole, there were no cattle, but the elephants were an excellent substitute
for flushing out the insects on which the egrets fed.
As elephants walked through the bush, egrets would be beside them or at
their heels, like pilot fish following a shark. If the elephants stood still,
they would hang around waiting for movement, and when the elephants took
a dip in a pool, the egrets would line the bank waiting for them to come
out.
Sometimes, it seemed as if they simply enjoyed the company of elephants,
as they walked along with them with no feeding activity that I could see.
They probably just didn't want to lose sight of their lunch-ticket.