Curiosity Captured the Kat: Eighteen Days in the Desert

My last post concluded with the end of building week. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed this experience, I was looking forward to tracking week, where we get to see the elephants! I want to add one detail about building week that I neglected to mention. As we were working on a farm, we were "lucky" enough to witness horses and donkeys mating...a first for me (in the flesh, so to speak, as opposed to TV). I saw enough "equine" penises to last me a lifetime. My comment was usually "Would you put that thing away!" Others were fond of saying "Get a room!". Little did I know, I would get to see several elephant penises too, but no mating. Elephant penises are so long that they sometimes drag on the ground! Sorry, no photos...Okay, enough about animal sexual organs!

So, after one last night at our temporary camp, we set off the next morning for a much needed rest at base camp for the weekend. After unpacking and cleaning and organizing our supplies, the line-up for the showers began. The moment I stepped under the shower head and turned on the water, it was paradise! A week's worth of sun screen, dried sweat, sand, cement and general filth all began to wash away...ahhhhhh...bliss...the sun was shining down on me and the warm breeze caressed my skin. I discovered that there is nothing as wonderful as an outdoor shower in the sun, surrounded by breathtaking landscape. Eventually, everyone had showered and then it was dinner time. We ate, we drank, we talked, we laughed...just like all the other nights spent together during building week. Then, at around 10:30 - 11:00, most of us made our way to bed.

Here is the view during one of my showers

Midnight: I am awoken from a deep sleep by an otherworldly sound...a cross between a human being and a dog (a werewolf, perhaps?). The sound is very close...I say to Mark, who is sleeping close-by, "Mark, are you awake?" He says "Ya". I say "What the hell is that??!!??". He mumbles something incoherent. I realize it is one of the baboons from the troup we had observed in the afternoon, a few hundred yards from camp. Throughout the night, always as I was just finally drifting off to sleep, the screeching, yelling and assorted other weird noises would jolt me into consciousness. It was an interesting, somewhat hair-raising night, to say the least. I never knew baboons made such a variety of noises. At one point I said to Mark (and anyone else who happened to be awake) in a half-joking, half-serious way "We're all going to die!". I heard a few snickers from various corners of the tree-fort.

The next day, we all got up at different times, made our own breakfast and generally lazed around, just like a Sunday at home. There was much discussion about the baboon shenanigans of the previous night. Some of us, myself included, got to go "into town" to buy snacks and other supplies. We also got to go swimming at a hotel that lets non-guests use the pool if you buy lunch. Was I interested? Ummmmm...let me think...YES!!! It was so refreshing and revitalizing...then a delicious lunch, complete with an ice cold gin and tonic...ahhhhhhhh...luxury. Here is a picture of the pool.

Monday morning we headed out to start patrol week. We saw our first elephant, a male named Benny, around mid-day. Then, soon after, we saw a herd. They approached our vehicle and, as instructed, we stayed very still and completely silent. Elephants have poor eyesight, so as long as we are quiet and stay still (and wear neutral colours), they think we are just part of the scenery. Here is a video clip of our first "close encounter". It was very exciting and just a little scary!

Here are a couple elephants from the same herd. I had some fun with a photo editing program which allows you to turn colour pictures into sepia or black & white, make them look old, give them a nostalgic look, etc. You will see this with a few others.

Our tracking week was structured much like building week. We would get up at 6:00, be on the road by 7:30 and we would stop for lunch/siesta between 12:00 and 2:30. Here is a photo of our fearless leader, Dave, having his siesta. He is actually asleep in this photo. Luckily his cigarette was unlit!

Oops, a flat tire!!

Helen and Lizanne spring into action!

This is a close-up shot of a nasty thorny bush that snagged each of us many times in various locations (at camp during building week, while riding on top of the truck or hanging out the sides) and in various places on our bodies (our hair, our hats, our clothes, our skin). It was an ongoing source of irritation and amusement all at once.

After an amazing first day, we found a great spot and set up camp. The next morning, 3 people reported that they got a bit freaked out by a tree that looked like an elephant coming towards them. I didn't experience this, but I did have some pretty weird dreams! Our second day on patrol was just as satisfying. We spent several hours observing a herd and saw our first really little babies (a few weeks old). At one point one of the babies, who was struggling to climb up the side of the dry riverbed, tumbled back (ass over teakettle) and let out a huge loud squeal. All the adult elephants starting making noises, trumpeting and generally freaking out. The mother helped her baby up with her trunk and got him to his feet. It was quite the scene, not unlike what happens if a human baby falls down and all the adults run over to make sure the child is okay. It was the "cutest" moment of patrol week, if a moment is capable of being cute. I have a couple video clips of babies, but for some reason I was not able to download them...technology! You'll have to settle for still shots.

This is a very young calf nursing: I learned that elephants have two breasts, situated right in the same spot as human breasts: between the arm pits. Even the males have them, just like human males.

That night we camped at the same spot. Here is a photo of all of us around the fire, a big part of our nightly ritual.

It's so hard getting up in the morning and leaving the comfort of our warm sleeping bags

Day three started slow, with no elephant sightings for quite a few hours...however, we did come across the most bizarre, surreal scene of the trip (and perhaps one of the most bizarre moments of my life - and believe me there have been more than a few). We noticed a small brush fire by the side of the road and, several yards away, a goat who was just standing there in an odd position. We got out of the truck and approached the goat. She appeared to be frozen in this positon. A few people began throwing sand on the fire to try to put it out. There was much speculation about why the goat was frozen and whether or not there was a relationship between the presence/condition of the goat and the fire. Perhaps someone set the fire to alert the owner of the goat that she was in trouble...? We'll never know for sure, but there was not much we could do. We left the fire smouldering, in case this latter theory was correct.

Frozen Goat

Brush Fire

We carried on searching for elephants and, finally, we saw some. They didn't stick around for very long so we had to go out into some dodgy, marshy territory to find them again. We got stuck in the mud three times (the vehicle I was in once and the other vehicle twice). For me, this was a little disconcerting because I was sceptical about our ability to get out of this situation. But our guides are pretty accustomed to these conditions and, with instructions from them about collecting rocks, digging the tires out, pushing the vehicle, etc. we managed to get out each time! After getting stuck 3 times, we decided to pack it in and look for a camping spot. Little did we know, the best part of patrol week was around the corner...

Stuck in the mud - a bird's eye view

Stuck in the mud - a closer look

Anna and Mark on the roof of the truck - trying to look ultra cool!

My foot inside an elephant foot print

On route to our unknown destination for the night we encountered another herd. We observed them for a while and then went quite a ways ahead to set up camp. As predicted they eventually came through, just as the sun was setting. It was a truly magical moment. We all huddled near the truck in silence, holding our breaths, watching them glide through the dusk, like ghosts...

Then...Harold appeared...he began to touch one of our bed rolls with his trunk and before we knew it, he was kicking it around like a soccer ball: front feet, back feet, pushing with his trunk. He kicked it about 20 yards away from the fire, outside of our camp area and then kept playing with it, the way a soccer player would dribble a ball. This went on for about 10 minutes, until he got bored and wandered off. It was all we could do to keep it together and not burst into hysterics...it was truly a remarkable sight!!! I knick-named him Pele, after the well-known soccer player from Brazil.

A few minutes later, another herd came through. This time they took a different route, up on the grassy area, on the oppoite side of our camp. It was almost dark at this point so we didn't see them until they were right there! At one point we thought they were going to step down into the riverbed and traipse right through our camp, crushing all our belongings (and a few of us) in the process. Luckily they decided not to. After a delicious Thai curry dinner (which Anna and I prepared, under a fair bit of duress, I might add), we retired for the night (our last one on patrol) feeling elated, satisfied and probably exhausted.

The next morning, we got up and lingered a little longer over a few cups of tea and coffee because we could see the elephants in the distance and they appeared to be coming our way. We eventually left because they were taking too long. On our way back to base camp, we did see a few elephants and did about 2 hours of observation all together.

Here is an interesting artifact we saw on our last day

On our way back, we stopped at a roadside shop and we were greeted by a cluster of children who were fascinated by us - not an uncommon occurence

We returned to base camp in the early afternoon and it felt like coming home...again, unpack, clean, organize, showers (ahhhhhhh, bliss). Fantastic dinner, great conversation, good music (Dave has excellent taste in music and quite an eclectic collection). Later on after dinner and more than just a few drinks, the garbage burning ritual begins. I didn't mention this before because it's just so unpleasant, but in Africa (even in the most "developed" countries, with the exception of maybe South Africa) there is no garbage collection so everything that can melt or burn is thrown into the fire...including plastic. Sorry, I got too wrapped up in the process to remember to take pictures. The best item that night, I think, was the plastic mayonnaise jar I put into the fire. It still had mayo in it, so there was some nice boiling mayonnaise mixed in with the melting plastic...mmmmmmm...quite a stunning visual effect. I will leave you with that image in your mind. Oh and don't forget to include the smell of toxic fumes when you are visualising this scenario.

Ben, Leon and Mark having a deep philosophical discussion while waiting for dinner

Leon and Guro, resting and recovering after patrol week

An image from base camp

The "plastic dome" at base camp, which is a workshop where strange whirring noises are sometimes heard. I think it looks like the hatch from Lost and/or an alien spaceship