Day Fourteen:  Guest Blogger - Sylvia Faoro -  Tracking Desert Elephant

Well, the day has finally arrived with much anticipation.  It is our day for our Desert Elephant tracking excursion. 16 of the 27 are going and we are all up at 5:30 am, breaky at 6 and leave at 7:00. We have a long drive this morning with the Elephant Tracker and 3 guides. We eventually arrive and drive off road. It is very rocky and bumpy. The twigs and branches hurt as they whip across the body. Brian and Jo-Ann get the worst of it! The first vehicle gets stuck in the sand as he tries to make it up the hill.  After 3 attempts he makes it, we all clap. Our driver guns it up the hill no problem. The last vehicle now feels the pressure to make it and tries to go another way but to no avail.  Our driver, Ernst, says that, "Prince Charles", is scared.  He fails at the first attempt but makes it on the second try. We all applaud him.

The Tracker is out of the vehicle and looking for elephant tracks. He finds them. We drive one way and then another.  I feel like we are going around in circles. The drivers plough through bushes higher than the windshield and drive over barbed wire fences. The first vehicle gets the barbed wire stuck in his rear wheel. It only takes 5 minutes to get it out.  Yes, we find elephant DUNG!!!!  The tracker says that the dung is 4 days old.  We call our driver, Ernst, the poop tracker. He points out that white poop is from hyena's, the Lion poop is full of fur and the elephant poop is full of grass. 

All of a sudden the tracker is out of the vehicle and gone!!!  Within minutes he is on top of a hill in the distance.   He spots the elephants but they are heading over the hill and down.  We are told to get out of the vehicles as we are going to track them by walking.  EXCITING!!!!!! We start out on foot with cameras and extra batteries.  Excited and nervous at the same time. We get about 20 yards from the vehicles when the tracker says that the elephants have turned around and are coming to us.  Wow! We are really excited now!  Everyone rushes to their vehicles and gets ready.  It is so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. The drivers are on top of the vehicle hoods or roofs. We are hanging out of the vehicles while managing to hang on and balance our cameras.  OMG, they are here!

Beautiful,Amazing, Awesome, Surreal!!! I tear up as I see my first one, heading straight for us. 

The cameras are clicking away fast and furious.  Everyone is excited as we all want the PERFECT shot.  We think there are about 10 or 11.  At least 5 babies and a couple of teenagers.  The Matriarch stops and looks at us - eyeing us up and down while protecting her herd.  FABULOUS!!!

Everyone is elated and satisfied. The tracker gets 3 cheers!  A job well done and well in advance of anticipated timing. We head home over rocky terrain, nothing bothering us as we are on Cloud 9!

At dinner, Sylvia announces Brian's proposal and they thank Michael for making all of her dreams come true.  It is also Ricki's birthday.  The servers bring her out desert and tea lite candles.  They sing Mamma Africa and Happy Birthday!!!!
 
A perfect ending to a perfect day!!!

FACTS

These  elephants are 1 of only 2 groups in the world, The other lives in Mali, North Africa.

• They have a smaller body mass and larger feet than other elephants.
• There are only 600 to 800 of these elephants left today.
•  Gestation is 22 months.
•  Elephants only have 4 teeth, one is each side of the upper and lower jaw.
•  An adult male can drink up to 160 liters of water a day.
•  They eat mostly green vegetation. 
•  They favor camelthorn trees and seed pods and Mopane.

 

Cheers!.....SF