Senka

I slept quite well, but woke up feeling very stiff and sore. The rib that I 'popped' on the truck the previous day was very sore and all my chest muscles hurt from when I used the rope swing into the pool in the Chimanimani mountains two days previously. I also now had a big section of one of my teeth missing. The wear and tear of this trip was taking its toll on my body. I felt for the first time that the discomforts of this trip were outweighing the enjoyments. If someone had offered me an instant teletransportation home, I might well have taken it at that point. I felt a bit like I'd had enough of the rigours of the trip. However, as I wrote this down, park attendants walked four large elephants right by our tents which assuaged these negative feelings a little. I was genuinely concerned about whether I could manage a horse ride in my physical condition.
As it turned out, the timings were changed and we did what was called an 'Elephant Interaction' which involved us going out in a safari vehicle to meet four large elephants, one male and three females. It was a really special experience to get up close to these huge, gentle giants. I was able to stand with them and hold their tusks and stroke their bristly trunks. You could feel the non-verbal communication using touch and sound with them. I was able to look deep into their pale orange-yellow eyes. We were then able to take food pellets and place them in their trunk which they held out and twisted up to nimbly and sensitively take the pellets from my hands and place them in their mouth. The whole experience was deeply moving to get this close to such large animals. After about 30 minutes we returned to the safari vehicles and back to the campsite.
I then rested at the campsite and prepared for my first ever horse ride at mid-day. We walked up to the stables and I began to feel a bit nervous about getting on the large horses that were circling in the paddock. I was given a red helmet which made me look like a bit like a polo player according to my fellow travellers, Lauren, Kim and Monica, also doing the horse ride. I was given a placid horse called 'Flame' as it was my first ride on a horse. I was taken over to concrete steps where I was helped onto the horse and given some basic instructions on how to use the reins to direct the horse and how to pull the reins to stop. I was also told how to kick the horses side with my heels to get him to walk forwards. My fellow travellers also got on their horses and we walked out of the stables, following our guide, and out into the park. I really enjoyed the experience of riding my horse and soon settled in to the rhythm of his steps. I could feel the connection with this large animal as I communicated my intentions through the reins and with my hands and voice. It was a simply wonderful experience and I immediately knew I would want to ride horses again in the future. I had that strange feeling that I had ridden horses before in a another life - the same feeling I get when I go on wooden sailing ships - maybe it's an ancestral menory or maybe I have ridden horses in another incarnation? We soon saw a herd of impala who remained quite close to us as they are not as afraid when we are riding another animal. We carried on through the scrubland and saw vultures in a nearby tree. We then came across two giraffes feeding on an acacia tree and again were able to get very close and take photos. We also saw a male and female lion in a nearby enclosure. We rode down the hill where we passed several wildebeest including young infant wildebeest. We saw another large vulture take flight from a tree before coming across several zebra. I slowly became more confident of directing my horse. He often bent down to eat the grass and I kept having to pull his head up with the reins. I really enjoyed this ongoing communication with my horse. We continued on down the hill and, all too soon, we were riding back into the stable. I got off the horse and back onto the step and led the horse to stand nearby. I patted Flame on the neck and thanked him for taking me through the park without incident.
We returned to the campsite and had some lunch and a drink in the campsite bar and cafe and waited for our third wildlife experience in a day at 4.30pm which was a walk with the elephants we had spent time with in the morning. We took the safari vehicle out into the park to meet the four elephants again. We spent some time reacquainting ourselves with the elephants by standing with them, patting their trunks and taking photos. We then walked alongside them as they walked along in a rough line. I walked near the elephants and they would sometimes acknowledge my by directing their trunk over to my hand. It was a wonderful experience to walk so close to them and pat their sides. I was reminded of my childhood love of the Disney film, The Jungle Book. My favourite song in the film was the march of the elephants, and here I was all these years later, marching with elephants in Africa. We spent an idyllic half an hour walking with these giant, sensitive and intelligent beasts. There was a wonderful moment when two of the elephants walked closely either side of me and I felt the small tail of one of the elephants gently brushing my head. We stopped at a large water trough where the elephants sucked up water with their trunks and poured it into their mouth. We then walked on to some iron railing enclosures where the elephants ate acacia branches waiting for them. We were able to feed some more pellets into their upturned trunks and then it was time to say our goodbyes and return to the campsite.
It had been a day of special experiences close up with animals and I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience it. I started the day feeling very low physically with my sore body and broken tooth, and my mood was then transformed in a positive direction by my close connection with wild elephants and horses. Animals really are the best therapy and always will be for me. I wondered whether and how I could spend more time with animals I'm the future. We all retired to the bar for drinks and dinner and reminisced on our special experiences of the day.
The moths circled the lights in the bar, the crickets chipped loudly, the lights reflected on the river below and the full moon rose high into the starry sky. I climbed into my tent and settled down to sleep with images of elephants pouring through my mind, reliving experiences with them that I would never forget.Read more