Visitors in the Night!

We had gone to bed fairly early (9pm), and a few were still sat round the campfire when shouts went around, "Everyone - get out of your tents now! Get round the fire! Elephants in camp!" I hadn't quite got into my sleeping bag as I'd been packing ready to leave tomorrow. I threw on a fleece and some trainers and we all sat quietly round the campfire, waiting for instructions. Two of the cooks had seen the elephants in the trees right next to our camp. They were 20 meters away!! We could hear trees breaking and rustling, and I was extremely concerned about what to expect! Our guide briefed us on what we had to do. Basically, we were told to get into our tents and to stay there. The elephants were expected to walk through the camp, but wouldn't stampede or tread on us, and in fact would be very gentle. If we need to use the toilet in the night (definitely wasn't going to risk that!) we were told to get out of our tents slowly, look around and if the area was clear, move quietly and slowly. At that point - the small generator that provided some light in camp at night went off - and we were plunged into darkness! So - head torch went on and we scampered off to our tents.

I then lay in my tent and listened to the elephants munching on the trees all around us. I stuck my head out of the tent to try and watch, but could only see shadows and hear the deep rumbling that they make when talking to each other. After an hour or so, it seemed to go quiet and I drifted off to sleep.

However, at about 5am I woke to hear the same, fairly loud munching, tree breaking noise. I was up at 6am, but camp seemed quiet. And then - I discovered why. Half a dozen of the team were stood at the perimeter of camp watching the family of 9 elephants quietly grazing just meters from our tents. The Bull elephant was enormous and there was also a baby that was just a few months old. I was amazed at how gentle they were. They knew we were there watching them, and they just continued grazing, reaching up with their trunks high into the trees to get the best bits before eating, and watching us, watching them.

Unfortunately it was still quite dark so photo's were difficult. But I did manage to get a shot of them crossing the riverbed when they left us for pastures new at around 7am. What a start to our last day on site!