Don’t Worry There Are No Animals Here

On the third night of our stay in the delta we did laundry, ate a delicious lamb stew and drank fantastic wine. Great food and wine have emerged as a trip theme. We’ve got some great chefs and aspiring wine abusers. The night was fairly quiet and everyone slept well. The fourth night of our stay in the delta brought the pendulum back in the direction of madness. The astute reader will have realized long ago that this is the direction I prefer. We camped in a remote part of Chobe National Park. This park is famous for having the largest population of elephants in the world. This fame is well deserved. Right around sunset we spotted a group of about 15 elephants munching on some trees about 100 yards from our camp. The entrance sign to the park says in big block letters, “Elephants are very dangerous. Do not approach them. We are not writing this just because we are bored and like making up rules. We mean it.” Of course, the first thing we did after spotting the elephants was gather everyone up and approach them. We came within about 50 yards of the heard – close enough to be completely awestruck and far enough away to give us the false sense of security that we needed to do something so ridiculous. Shortly before the spotting, Dafina took off for a 30 minute jog around the park and then Alessandro went off to do the same.

Later that evening everyone was getting a little worried about the animal activity that we were sure to face while we slept. In one of Ben’s finer moments he tells us, “don’t worry, there are no animals here.” Some animal somewhere must’ve heard Ben’s heresy and spread it around because we were treated to the most incredible symphony of animal sounds that we could imagine. Ben’s credibility as an animal expert took a hit that evening. When we drove around the park the next morning the animal activity exploded. We ran into a heard of about 70 elephants drinking water and rolling around in mud. We even had an elephant bull chase one of the cars. The car was blocked from reversing by a heard of stampeding impalas. Those that were in the car said they were paralyzed with fear. Those that were in the other cars said they were secretly hoping that the elephant would give the car a little nudge.

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