Elephant Encounter Part II

Our time together in Botswana falls into two parts: the nightmarish first part and the breathtaking second. The first part—which included three days of mindblowingly boring driving (from the SA border to Maun), Daniel being subjected to drunken, anti-American wrath while Clare conducted a project interview, and the grand finale, Clare’s truck nearly exploding 60k into the middle of nowhere—this first part we soon hope to forget.
After we regrouped, got a new vehicle, and risked our lives in Zambia, we reentered Botswana with a fresh start. On our first night at a campsite at Ihaha, where we had a view of elephants bathing in the Chobe River, we discovered after sundown that we were not quite alone. A troop of barking monkeys took up residence for the night in a nearby tree, from which they serenaded us all evening. It was a bit like walking into an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
The next day, on our way to Savuti, one of the more beautiful areas in the Chobe National Park, we were again reminded of the proximity to peril that’s part of daily life here in Africa. Cruising along, an enormous, nay, terrifyingly enormous black mamba snake appeared out of nowhere and reared its venomous head four feet above the ground, coming a little too close to our open windows. Car and snake collided. We sped on, then turned back, nervous, to see if it was still in the road. But no sign of the creature. Clare was now certain that it was hiding under her seat.
She soon forgot this after we found ourselves stuck in deep sand less than five minutes later. Small children appeared out of the bush, and in exchange for chocolate biscuits, they gave the car a push. We spent the afternoon relaxing at our next campsite and enjoyed a lovely sunset, but the real excitement of the day didn’t arrive until the 10:30 hour (note time and refer to previous post).
We had been in bed for an hour when we were suddenly awoken by the sound of sticks and pods raining down on our tent. Peering through our tent window, we made out the silhouette of something very large, nay, terrifyingly large. Oh yes, it was an elephant. Several, actually.
For the next hour, we huddled motionless in the center of our tent, fearing the 7000kg footsteps of elephants walking around between our tent and the nearby trees. Despite our wish to go unnoticed in our termite mound-shaped tent, a particularly bold elephant began rubbing its trunk along our door and, more specifically, against Daniel’s feet. Apparently, Daniel’s feet smell like peanuts.
And well, nothing in the final three days of our trip lived up to this level of excitement, though we’ve had a very nice few days in Maun recovering from our adventure. It’s a little bit sad, honestly, but Daniel will be leaving in but a few hours. It’s been great. It’s been wonderful.
Stay tuned for Daniel’s adventures in Dubai and stories from Clare’s continued life in the Botswana bush. (Daniel and Clare)