elephant encounter

Did you all know that elephants are the second-most dangerous animal in the bush? only after hippos, which like to crunch morokos (little dugout canoes that tourists go around in) in half. hmm well i found this out literally the day before Jayne (the girl I'm staying with in Maun) and I decided to take a day trip into the Moremi Game Reserve, which is just next to the Okavango Delta. The day was absolutely amazing, the most beautiful and varied landscape I have ever seen, but lets skip to the highlight--the elephant encounter. Now, I have seen elephants before, even in the wild while I was in South Africa. But that was from the safety of a tarred road, in a vehicle driven by an experienced guide when our vanload of people spotted one, maybe two, elephants off in the distance. But last friday was just a bit different. Jayne and I had finished lunch at a campsite and were driving through the mopane forested woodlands (Moremi has no roads or permanent buildings or anything, just seasonal tracks in the sand that vehicles have created--it is so much more remote and isolated than any national park in the states, we only encountered a couple other vehicles during the entire day and otherwise it was pretty much just us and the wildlife), when we spotted a herd of elephants walking up ahead of us. we stoppped the car and watched them march through the cluster of mopane trees just a few meters in front--moms with babies, some "teenagers", some bigger bulls, and they just kept coming. i was a bit nervous, but mainly just excited to be seeing elephants, until jayne whispers, "look behind us". I turn my head slowly and see that more elephants are now walking behind the car, and then I notice that they are coming from all sides now too, literally pouring out of the trees it seems!!! Jayne and I must have sat there for a good 15 minutes, in total silence (i dont even think i breathed) until they all passed--an enormous bull bringing up the rear and giving our car a good hard look before moving on. We estimated that about 150 elephants walked in front and around our car, as they headed towards the river. It was honestly the most terrifying, exhilirating and awesome (in the true sense of the world) that I can remember having in a long while. you really feel small when you know that with just one swipe of its trunk an elephant could knock you and your car to pieces, and you are in the middle of at least a hundred of these creatures, praying that you dont somehow upset or annoy them somehow. yikes.

And that was just the beginning of our day! the rest included seeing a lion ( a few feet away), wild dogs, zebra, wildebeest, baboons, warthogs, vervet monkeys, lots of impala, lots of birds and hippos too! i could go on and on describing, but hopefully some of you will get to come visit and see this all for yourselves! it is such a breath-taking place, i really feel lucky for having been able to see it. and hopefully there will be many more day trips and camping trips in moremi to be had in the next 9 months!

ps. im still figuring out this blogging stuff myself, so i posted a comment in reply to amos comment on my last post--am i allowed to post comments on my own blog? im not sure, but amo, thats where i my response to you is! :-)