My dad was a foreign service officer. He worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and, as a result, we lived in many interesting developing countries growing up. For one five year stretch, we lived in Tanzania on the East Coast of Africa. It was a great experience living there for many reasons including the amazing papaya and guava trees in our yard. During the summers, my brother and I would climb the trees, pick fruits, and mom would prepare them for us. There is nothing like ripe African papaya plucked right off the tree. Yum!
My favorite thing was the local trips we would take. We would go to Zanzibar Island, Arusha in the mountains, and my destination of choice, the Serengeti National Park. The thing I loved about my dad, which I try to emulate, was that he wasn’t a tour guide kinda guy. He liked making his own path. This was the modus operandi that we all became accustomed to. At first we would groan about it but later, it became cool that we did our own thing.
While in Tanzania, we would go exploring in the Serengeti a few times a year. Sometimes, we would go with friends and other times, we were alone and unafraid in the wilderness. As long as Mom and Dad were there, we were excited and confident. We had many fun adventures, including the time we were in the park and our border pass (credentials to pass between Tanzania and Nigeria freely) flew out the window. I guess I was nine or ten years old when that happened.
My dad was adamant about protecting our credentials. We were diplomats so, we had some international protections that many people didn’t. Before leaving our house for that specific trip, my dad briefed us on where our passports, letter of approval to be in the park, and our border pass were in our Chevy Suburban. The border pass happened to be in the sun visor under the elastic strap. Our trip out to the park was uneventful and we stayed at a decent lodge overnight. The next day is when one of the most profound things happened to me.
We were somewhere in the park where there were supposed to be a pride of lions. We found them after a few hours of scouting but the low speed search caused our truck to start overheating (yeah, that was a common thing back in the day).
This meant we had to roll down all the windows. We saw many animals along the way and every time we saw something new and cool, my mom would warn us not to get out of the truck under any circumstances. She was more than a little nervous about having the windows down with all the wild animals around. We began shadowing the pride and had quite a grand time doing so. Dad decided to park the truck in the shade of a large boulder and take lots of pictures of the pride resting under a nearby tree. While sitting there, a random gust of strong wind swept over us. The border pass that was secured under the elastic was no match for the gust. It slipped out of it’s resting place and flew out the window, and behind us around the back side of the boulder. We all freaked out and without thinking (I did that a lot), I got out of the truck and ran after the floating piece of paper.
I heard Mom and Dad screaming at me to get back in the truck but my feet wouldn’t stop. The wind gust carried the paper what seemed like forever but was really only about 30 to 40 feet. It finally descended and came to a stop on the ground. I pounced on it satisfied and relieved that I recovered this critical document for the family.
When I looked up, I saw the biggest elephant on earth. Now, I was a little kid so anything taller than me was the biggest thing on earth but, this was a huge elephant. I was only about 10 feet from it. I remember tunnel vision, holding my breath, almost peeing my pants, and flies going in and out of my gaping mouth. This elephant had the biggest and longest tusks I had ever seen, in books, on other elephants we’d seen in the park, or anywhere else. They were so long, they crossed over each other at the bottom, were curled at the bottom, and were dragging on the ground! That’s right, he was resting his head on them! I think I may have whimpered a bit when I processed how huge this animal was. As a nine or ten year old, seeing that creature right in front of you, gives you a perspective that is unique and powerful. Talk about feeling small and insignificant. I felt it in that moment. This great animal humbled me. Shocked me. Scared me. Commanded me to respect it. I can’t explain it adequately but boy did it feel like a sledge hammer to the chest.
The next thing I knew, my dad grabbed me up in his arms and quickly whisked me back to the truck. I got the what for from my mom for about an hour after that. I cried after I realized how dangerous that was. My dad went on to explain to me that what I saw was an old, old bull elephant. Not only was he an old one but he was sleeping which is why I wasn’t a greasy spot on the savanna.
Ever since that day, elephants have fascinated me. I learned all about them and in those days, the ivory trade was becoming a stain on humanity. I realize now that ivory trading was always an awful stain but back then, there wasn’t much negative talk about it. That changed in my house quickly. I made my parents promise never to buy any more ivory or enable anyone else to buy ivory. They promised and followed through. I love them for it.
There is an elephant documentary coming out on NatGeo on the 21st of April. You know I’ll be watching!
What a powerful experience. I’ve always wanted to go on the safari.
Elephants are such beautiful, I think graceful, slightly sad creatures. They know things.🐘
Woah. That was a true safari experience! 🙂