Elephants

Most people love elephants, huge, powerful, smart and incredibly hairy.

Of course I have seen elephants, in zoos and when I was younger in the circus. Over the course of my life, I’ve had three fairly close experiences with this wonderful animal.

I had travelled to Walpole, small town in southwest Australia, with mum, dad and my brother to see friends for a weekend. Sunday afternoon we were heading home along a very windy road, though it was two lanes they weren’t very wide, and every corner had to be rounded very cautiously. Brother and I were dozing in the back, sick of niggling each other, when dad yelled what the bloody hell? As we looked through the front window we were confronted with elephants’ backsides, as they stood on a flat bed truck swaying from side to side, the truck was taking up more than its fair share of the road and was going to be very difficult to pass. Aside from elephant excitement, It struck me that it would be hours be for we got home. After what seemed to be an eternity watching those magical beasts sway and snatch at the eucalypt trees for a snack, we were finally able to manoeuvre around the truck and in moment they were gone.

I travelled by bus to high school, one afternoon we as climbed the steep hills towards home the bus came to a sudden stop, you guessed it we had come upon two elephants walking on the road in front of us. We all sat there mouths open at the sight, the bus driver opened the door and we were joined by a young fellow who explained that the circus was going to our small town however they had to take the elephants off the straining truck and walk them up the hills. Of course, this was a very slow process, and they had been walking for ages, though the elephants didn’t seem to mind, they were busy chomping on any greenery they could reach.

Then in 2024 I had an elephant experience I will never forget. We travelled to Thailand and stayed at a friend’s resort, just so happened that there was an elephant sanctuary across the road, and I mean literally across the road. One could bath the elephants, swim with them and feed them. An absolute dream come true! After paying the entrance fee you were given a basket of fruit, sugar cane and other elephant delicacies, to entice a close encounter. Of my god so amazing, I rubbed their trunks, patted their ears and generally gave them love, a regular elephant whisper. As mentioned at the beginning of this tale they are so hairy, tiny  hairs that are sharp and thick each one was so strong you could have made rope, if you had the patience to remove each one separately and plait them together. I whispered sweet nothings into their giant flappy ears while the gobbled the snacks I proffered. I know they only loved me for the food and would fall for the next person that walked up with a little basket, but those moments we had together were among the best moments of my life. In fact, those special moments rated number four on my all-time list.