signs on the side of the highway alerting us to elephant crossings
The African elephant. Creature of myth, of awe, of romantic African savannah dreams. His eyes betraying his ancient wisdom, he seems almost as old as the land he walks upon. Almost as large, too. He is, plain and simple, the epitome of African wildlife. The poster boy for Africa. And here, in the Northeastern corner of Botswana, is where he dwells in greatest numbers.
There are signs along the human-highway between Nata and Kasane (the town at the four-border tip) reminding drivers to watch out for elephants. As a Canadian, I’m used to seeing these signs for deer or moose, and in Africa, I’ve seen them for cows and donkeys, but never had I encountered the Watch-out-for-elephant-sign. Indeed, soon after Nata, we passed through a gate, where we were given a pamphlet reminding us that we were now entering a “Wildlife Zone”. Not ten minutes later, we encountered our first elephant – a large bull wanting to cross the road, perhaps to head into Zimbabwe. We stopped the car to watch him, and we immediately noticed his nervous mannerisms. His large ears were straight out, at full attention, his trunk was furiously sniffing the air, and he was moving back and forth like a child with ADHD. He was evidently concerned about crossing this strange grey, hard earth where peculiar animals passed by at lightning-fast speeds every few minutes. It reminded me that once, long ago, elephants didn’t have to worry about fences, highways, or border patrol as they journeyed from one end of their territory to the other (as large as 2200km square!) in search of food and water. No wonder there are so many conflicts between elephants and humans in modern times.
We decided to spend a night at Elephant Sands Lodge before continuing north to Kasana, because the lodge is renowned for their elephant water hole right –and I mean right – in front of the lodge. You can swim in their pool, dine in their restaurant, or sit on their patio with a drink and watch elephants come for a drink only meters away. Unlike the elephants I saw in South Africa, these elephants are wild – they don’t live within the boundary of a national park or a reserve. They are free, nomadic, wild-roaming elephants! That being said, the ones that come to Elephant Sands are evidently quite used to being stared at by people, and they came very, very close to us as they drank. It felt a tad-bit inauthentic for them to be so close to us without any qualms, but I have to admit that seeing an elephant so close without any boundary (no vehicle! no fence!) between us was still pretty special.
The following day, we continued north to Kasane, a town along the Chobe River and at the edge of the infamous Chobe National Park. This is elephant territory. Elephants are frequently spotted along the banks of the river, and reportedly even knocked down the fence to graze in our campsite the night before we arrived. Twice, Bruno and I have seen them cross the main road going into town, and this morning, while I was bike-riding, I saw four elephants grazing along the side of the road. In Kasane, elephants and humans have somehow managed to co-exist, but I do get the feeling that we humans are taking up more than our fair share of space.The main reason for anyone to come Kasane is to visit the Chobe National Park. Unfortunately, we were not able to camp within the grounds of the park, as the campsites have become privatized in the past few years and prices have consequently skyrocketed. Nonetheless, we were able to go into the park for a day trip, and that in itself was well worth the visit to Kasane. The park is huge, but with so many narrow sandy roads, and plenty of tracks that are simply impassible, we were only able to see a small section of it. No matter – we happily followed the riverfront tracks, which both provided a beautiful backdrop to our animal viewing, and refreshing, cool air (so nice in the hot afternoon hours). The river also attracts loads of animals, of course, so we were able to see giraffes, buffalo, antelope, warthogs, lions (no big-maned males yet, but I’m not done looking!), and of course, elephants.
As I watched this little guy learning how to be an elephant, I started pondering what being an elephant really entailed. I had spent at least three hours watching this elephant family, long enough to begin to formulate what an elephant does in his day. He eats, he drinks, he throws sand and mud on his back (it gets rid of bugs and protects the skin from the sun), he swims, he looks for yummy treats in the earth, he cuddles those he loves, he plays, he walks, and he stands. That’s it, folks. No internet, no blogging, no going to the office, no school. In fact, no other animal species do any of these things – just us. Everyone else pretty much just tries to survive, relax, and enjoy a few simple pleasures. And the most amazing thing is that all the other animals are content. You can tell. You just need to watch them for a bit, to look into their eyes, to see them interact with one another, to see how easily they relax, and you know. You know they are content. Content in their simplicity, in their freedom.
I know that when I’m part of the “regular world”, I develop this guilt-complex that my time needs to be productive. I even make lists to check that I’m “doing things” with my time. And I definitely feel guilty if I relax, take some down-time, or do nothing for a few hours. I would most certainly feel guilty if all I was doing with my day was eating, drinking, playing, bathing, cuddling, walking, and standing still. People would judge me as lazy! Indulgent! Unproductive! But this begs the question as to what I’m being productive towards. What, even, is productivity? And why do I/we all value it? Do I only exit to be useful, constructive, beneficial, valuable, and helpful, to name a few thesaurus synonyms? Am I so much a product of modern society that I buy into the fact that time is money, as they say?
Maybe I should hope to be an elephant in my next life. Then, I can live simply and freely, without guilt, without the pressures of productivity and the complications it creates.
It looks like traveling is teaching me yet another lesson – learning to be content. And the animals are helping a fair bit in my contentment-education. Right now, I still feel like that baby elephant, mimicking his family and copying their ways, for I have been unintentionally emulating the animals’ nature, their uncomplicated way of life, and their free-spirited attitude toward the world. Perhaps the baby elephant and I are imperfect imitators right now, but we both know, deep down, that we’re on our way to becoming true elephants.
Richard - yet another great piece of writing bit. It’s interesting that you are feeling so good being out in nature. One of the things I have learned recently is that as you follow your true desires and path and heal if that is part of your process, you find yourself being closer to nature. You have been immersed in it for a while now and you are understanding yourself, accepting who you truly are and the prescription of how we should live our western life is slowly becoming redundant. Your being in nature IS mirroring what and who you are. Rejoice!
Clayton Roche - Fake it till you make it, baby elephant style.