On one of the last nights at Kichaka we sat and chatted about our favourite memories from the trip so far. We gathered around as a group the day before and played a game of "tell us something about your partner that we don't already know". The stories that came out of that game were classic and the what-happens-at-kichaka-stays-at-kichaka rule was quickly applied. But anyway, that session in the sun was named as many of the group as one of the favourite memories.
But then there were those of us that named the Elephant Incident. We'd been out on a game drive and as we were driving around in the wilderness, one of us pipes up "That was awesome seeing that one elephant the other day but I wish we could sit with a whole herd like we did last year when that one tried to charge us and Nic screamed and dived under the seat". Yea. Very funny. The other jeep had taken the 'low road' out in the open and our ranger Ashley had taken the high road, turning into the thick bush and putting his foot down, hauling it through the scrub. We'd gone about ten seconds into the bush and turned a corner and there was this freakin GREAT elephant on one side of the jeep. Gasps. But no sooner had we realised we'd just crept up on that beast just.a.little.too.fast than we see more(that's plural) extremely large beasts on the other side.
We'd driven right through the herd with no warning at a great rate of speed AND when we were surprised, there were more than one of us that a) screamed b)swore c)exclaimed the obvious "ELEPHANTS!" d) yelled the less obvious "Aard-vark!" - you had to be there to understand that one, or e) all of the above.
Ashley keeps his calm and keeps driving. Paul retrieves Nic from under the seat. Right when one of the elephants decides yea that was a little too annoying and chases us, thundering down the road, trumpeting after us.
The rangers and trackers at Kichaka are amazing and they managed to make all the right moves and noises to stop the elephant. It was little more than a teen showing us how big and scary he could be, but an elephant trumpeting next to you is scary all the same.
And then we got the word from Ashley. "Just so you know, what we are in now is less than the ideal situation. We need to remain calm and quiet while we make our way out of here, raising your voices, screaming "elephants" or sqealing is not going to make these elephants happy". Less than ideal situation. No crap. Love the look on Ashley's face..
At this point Ashley managed to turn the jeep around quietly, we turned and drove back the way we came, a little more respectfully this time.
We drove out of the herd, we drove up the road and went and visited a more friendly solo giant, eating quietly in the bush. He must have felt some "I'm scared of Elephant' vibes because he also let us know he was a little less than happy. You can tell by the straight on stare and the way he put his ears up. He stood for a good twenty seconds staring at us. The whole time I was wondering why we werent' heeding the warning and turning and leaving. Eventually the elephant turned and ambled away. Ashley explained that you never leave until an elephant lets you. If we had turned and left while he was challenging us, he may have chased. When he turned and left, he was letting us go. And we did.
I have to say before signing this post off that the Kichaka staff are awesome. Ashley was an experienced ranger that knew what he was doing the whole time. It was probably just another day the office for him. However for those of us that were hoping for a little adrenalin in the wilderness, we'll always remember it as "The Elephant Incident". Thanks Ashley.
Laters
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