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Elephants.
Not sure what my fascination is with them, but I see them as giant gentle beast. I love their big ears, their slow walking, and their giant trunks. They look so wise and ancient, covered in wrinkle lines. I love that they are a family oriented group, that they take care of each other, and they’re a matriarchal society.
At the same time, you don’t really want to mess with a herd of elephants. They could do some serious damage if threatened. I decided a long time ago they are my spirit animal. Maybe it’s the notion that they’re calm and gentle unless angered. I can relate to that.
So on this Africa adventure, seeing an elephant was my
number one goal. And they proved to be elusive for the ranger I was riding with
throughout the week. Every other group had lots of close up encounters with
elephants. Yet whenever we tried to find them, they had just disappeared into
the foliage, or it was too dark to go see them. I was frustrated that I was
going to miss the elusive elephants.
The very last day of my trip, we went on one more game drive
early in the morning. We had an amazing encounter with lions, but still the
elephants proved elusive. The eagle eyes of our ranger did find them, climbing
the mountain in the distance. Amazingly, elephants are hard to see. Despite
their size, their grey color allows them to blend in perfectly with a rocky
surrounding.
