You’ve probably heard mythical tales of elephants getting drunk on marula fruit (spoiler: they don’t actually do that). Well, this elephant got high instead ...

Kevan Dobbie, a ranger at Earth Lodge in South Africa's Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, filmed this cheeky pachyderm meandering around on a rooftop earlier this week. The solid structure gifted the elephant with a vantage point from where it could pluck food from the higher boughs of surrounding trees (high tea, anyone?).

But how the heck did it get up there?

"The lodge is built into a natural slope of the earth, so that it doesn't detract from the bush and allows the animals to roam freely," Sabi Sabi Marketing Manager Louise Barlow explained to News24. The roof on the rear side of the lodge is level with the ground allowing animals easy rooftop access.

A variety of species including bush buck, warthogs, wild dogs and even lions have examined the view from the roof in the past, says Barlow. "We often get wildlife around the lodge – elephants drink out of the various water sources around Earth Lodge and we have had occasions where, like this elephant, they wander up to the roof." Last year, Sabi Sabi field guide Chanyn-Lee Zeelie captured footage of another rooftop elephant – this time the clip was filmed from inside the lodge:

Elephants spend much of their time browsing for food, which is hardly surprising considering these behemoths need to pack in 160 kilograms (323 lbs) of food every day. In the wetter months of the year, elephants feed on grasses, as well as leaves plucked from a variety of shrubs and trees. They have been recorded digging for roots following the first rains of the season, and they will also gobble up fruits and flowers if they are available. A highly versatile trunk allows the elephant to pluck leaves and grass, and they will even sometimes rear up onto their back legs in order to reach the upper branches of trees. This one, however, just climbed on the roof.

Fortunately, the Earth Lodge designers accounted for the possibility of elephants with lofty aspirations: "It's a very sturdily built roof," says Barlow.

Top header image: Brittany H., Flickr