We drove through the Balule Gate - entrance to the game reserve - and wound our way along the dusty road to the Campfire turnoff and as we rounded a corner, we were met by the biggest bull elephant I have ever seen, with the biggest backside I have ever seen!!! The closest I have ever been to an elephant! After spending endless nights on "Utube" watching videos of elephants overturning vehicles, I was paralysed with fear! Bev was driving and did the last stretch of the journey and is just as afraid of elephants as I am! She froze, then collected herself, slammed on brakes and I screamed at her to reverse as quickly as possible and we ended up in a deep ditch! The elephant just plodded along, ignoring us, whilst we tried making an escape in the opposite direction. I tried calling my daughter and the facilitator, Laetitia, but to no avail!! We raced back to the main road and met up with some rangers from another Lodge who kindly escorted us to Campfire! What an ordeal! Mom could not understand what the fuss was all about and was as calm as a cucumber! Cheney mentioned the previous week that they had a bull elephant in 'must' and he had charged them on a number of ocassions! So I decided that this was 'the' bull and we were going to be the victims of his sexual frustration!
It took us a number of hours before we calmed down and could enjoy the rest of the evening! It turned out to be one of the more placid bulls in the park!
Cheney was waiting for us and had to show how tame the vervet monkeys are. The students feed the troop every evening! Bosveld the staffie also competes for his piece of bread and hates the monkeys!
My beautiful daughter, who has surprised everybody including herself, with her confidence and knowledge of the bush and our wildlife!
A pleasant evening to be spent around a campfire! A different kind of "graduation"!
Cheney, mom and Bev
My so young, energetic and glamorous mother!
Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow when we celebrate the graduation. Please join us.
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