Morning excitement

Kuli? Where? I guess if you’ve seen the same paths your whole life, you’d notice things like the imprint of an unknown vehicle on the sandy path, or the visible sauntering steps of an animal’s tracks. Of course, I thought that my senses had sharpened to become more attuned to the unknown and unseen, but obviously I’m still decidedly deficient. I’ve met only one elephant since I’ve been in Africa, and I have to say that’s kind of a disappointment. Not that I came here intending to spend my days viewing game, but really, just one?

My Baama was scared. They’re known for trampling people, crops, and vehicles alike. They’re just ridiculously large animals, and their footprints along our road into town were proof of their size. It was the droppings that confirmed the young ones were trotting behind them too. But I guess elephants don’t trot no matter how old they are, they stomp. Thank goodness they didn’t find us though, and we didn’t find them, since mothers are always protective of their young, and likely would have come at us in full force.

I pictured her defensively hurling her monstrosity of a fleshy grey body, horrific groans reaching our ears only seconds before we felt the crunch of our vehicle being crumpled up quickly like a small matchbox car. Reality was less exciting. We didn’t even meet. But at least we were safe from their stomping grounds as we saw their tracks trail off into the bush. Disappointed as I was, I was happy to make it to town to use the internet to write of our exciting adventure!


p.s. a few days after writing this, I was informed the 44 Elephants are wandering through the neighborhood. Exciting, yes, but it does create a variety of problems for the people who’s fields they devour and demolish. Apparently the lack of stability in nearby Zimbabwe has given way to other problems besides useless currency, dictatorship, and no food. It’s not only the people who are fleeing, but the wild animals who have strayed from game parks and travelled north to find a home in Zambia. It can be a dangerous journey for people and animals alike.