Tales of an Adventurer

Grandma and The Elephants

   One day Mark leaves the camp and I see a tent being prepared. We were already in the middle of the course so a new student wouldn’t be. I continued to study while the noise of the Land Rover was replaced by the birds calling.

   A few minutes later I start to hear the Land Rover again. Then I see Mark, with 3 ladies in the back and the car full of bags. There was a young girl, 18, a mother 40, and a grandmother in her 60s.

   Olga walks out of the office and walks to greet our new guests. I walk down and encounter “John” and ask:

   – Who are they?

   – They are going to stay with us for 3 days – he replied. 

   – Ok… but why? – I asked.

   – The daughter wants to be a guide, but not sure. So they asked if she could come for 3 days to see if she likes the bush. Now the whole family is here on a cheap safari. Genius hahaha – he replied while laughing. 

   – That is actually very smart… I should have thought about that – I answered laughing.

   They went to their new tent, unpacked and joined us on the sunset safari. Now these are rich people, and sadly the posh rich people tend to be very difficult guests.

   So every time we would stop the car to look at Impalas, Nyalas, Kudus, etc… the Grandma would always get up in the car. This is a big no! Never stand up in the car. 

   Let’s just say “John” wasn’t very amused with this behaviour. After one safari he was already exhausted with the amount of times he had to ask the grandma to sit down.

   We returned to the camp and had dinner. After a awhile I went to bed.

“John” ready to tell Grandma to sit down….

   I woke up at 3am with something knocking at my “door”. I thought:

   – Damn this hyenas are much bigger and they even know how to knock!

   – João wake up! Elephants broke one of the water pipes and we need to fix them before we ran out of order! – “John” screamed.

   I got up and grabbed the nearest set of pants and jackets. It was cold at night. Everyone was like a zombie. We couldn’t barely open our eyes. We arrived at the spot of the broken pipe.

   The water was flowing fast. The elephants dug 2 meters deep to get the pipe! Everyone jumped out of the car and started to get tasks assigned.

   – João – “John” said – you will be our spotter. Elephants are still around so you must scan the surroundings so we don’t get jumped on!

   – Ok! – I said.

   I grabbed the car spotlight and started to scan the bush around. I was very nervous. We could hear the branches breaking and the elephants eating. They were close.

Scanning the dark for eyes.

   After 20 minutes “John” says:

   – Done! Let’s go before they return! – “John” said while climbing to the car.

   We drove back to the camp. It was 4am. 

   – See you in about 30 minutes – “John” said with a smile – Just kidding tomorrow we leave later in the morning. We leave at 5:30 am.

   – Only one hour and half extra to sleep? That’s not enough for me – I said with my tired voice. Trying to get an extra hour.

   – You can sleep in the afternoon – “John” replied.

   I got to bed and just dropped. And as I began my amazing dream the alarm went off! I woke up, tired and not in a great mood. As I drank my morning hot chocolate I could see that everyone was struggling. Except our guests. While we worked during the night with the elephants around, they slept through the whole thing. 

   We drove to the place where we fixed the pipe during the night. We wanted to find the elephants. We drove around for a while with no luck. 

   Then “John” thought it would be a good idea to do a walk around the area of the pipe. This way we could see what the elephant’s tracks looked like and how to follow them. Also if you are walking, grandma can’t get up in the car.

   We stopped and “John” gave us the briefing before the walk. What we can do and what we shouldn’t do.

   – No talking during the walk, no smoking, no eating, no drinking and most importantly no running! Golden rule! Only food runs! – “John” said in an authoritative voice. 

   We walked for 2 hours. We followed the tracks of the elephants all the way to the river that was dry. 

   – The elephants are in the reeds – “John” said – you can see the trunks and you can hear them.

   We watched for a while but we could only see the trunks. So after a while grandma was tired of it. So we returned to the car! 

   While we are returning to the car, I’m at the back of the group. When we do walking safaris  you walk in a single line. Every 10 minutes the person behind the guide steps aside and lets everyone pass so he can be at the end of the line. Normal courtesy… 

   So I was in the back when the group halted! I can see three elephants around our car. Big ones! I see “John” lifting his hand with the sign stop (making a fist).

   Then “John” makes a sign with his hand to slowly back away. He turns and says:

   – Go back.

   There is a custom, when the guide tells you something while you are in the front, you pass that information all the way to the back. So the person in the end of the line knows what is happening.

2 things wrong in this picture. We are two groups instead of one, and I’m staying behind to take a photo of what is wrong….

   So as “John” says:

   – Go back.

   The person behind him sends the word:

   – Go back.

   – Go back.

   Grandma and the family were in the middle. When the word gets to grandma saying to “go back”, for her that only meant one thing: “run for your life!”.

   She turns to her daughter and says:

   – Run! 

   Then the mother turns to her daughter and says: 

   – Run!

   When the word gets to me saying “RUN!”. I said:

   – Wait what? That’s not right!

   I had no time to finish my phrase before seeing half of the group sprinting to every direction. I tapped my legs hard to get the attention of “John”. When “John” turned back, Grandma was already climbing a tree, the mother was running along the road, the daughter was sprinting into the thickets.

   – HEY!!! What are you doing!? – “John” yelled! – Come back here now!!!

   When the group was formed again and all together we could see that “John” was extra nervous. We were on the road. “John” looked to the right and said:

   – Into the thickness! WALKING!!! – he reminded the group! 

   We walked into the thickness until we found a termite mountain.

   – Get behind it and sit down – “John” said. 

   The termite mountain wasn’t big enough for the whole group. Only two people stayed out of the cover of the mountain, “John” and myself. 

“John” keeping an eye on the elephants.

   When I finally sat down I looked in front of me and saw 4 big male elephants standing 20 meters from us. I looked to my left and saw “John” talking to the elephants. 

   The elephant right in front of me was very agitated. He was giving me all the signs that it wasn’t a happy elephant and that my presence was the one making him unhappy. 

  “John” wasn’t having luck either. His elephant was also very angry and started to walk towards “John”.

  “John” cocked his rifle (put a bullet in the chamber). That clicking sound made my heart start to pump faster. I wasn’t scared of the sound of a rifle, but I knew he only had 3 bullets on the rifle and if he was going to shoot them, he could only shoot 3 elephants… leaving the fourth one alive…

   Not good. So I was hoping “John” wasn’t going to start shooting. If he shoots I won’t make it.

   Luckily that clicking sound scared “John” elephant. He backed down and started to walk away pushing the other elephants. All the elephants started to walk away except one, my elephant. 

   This one wasn’t ready to give up. He wanted to show me he was the boss! He took 3 steps towards me but one elephant stood in front of him. Working as a barrier between me and the elephant. Finally he gave up and walked away. 

   We walked back to the car. When we sat in the car we all started to laugh. The adrenaline was too much. “John” went for a quick walk alone, 2 minutes top. 

   When he returned he turn to us and said:

   – For those who decided to run, let me just tell you something! You could have killed every single person here in the group! You could have been the reason why 4 male elephants could have died! Never but never again! 

   Never run! That is the rule! The family left the day after, going back home a day earlier than normal. 

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