08-15-2006, 06:52 PM
Here's my elephant story:
In 1986 my wife and I visited the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, South India.
We slept and did our own cooking in a 3 room, solid concrete, building with iron bars on the windows and a large concrete moat all around the outside. It was the only building for miles. We shared the place with a couple of Germans who were tourists like us.
When we first arrived at the park entrance our Indian guides received our money and then took us by boat about 30 minutes along a narrow lake to a real wilderness area. After the boat ride they led us on foot about 45 minutes to this guest house out in the middle of the woods.
We asked our guides about the moat and they told us it was to keep the elephants out. They also warned us that there were tigers in the area and to be careful. After the warnings they said goodbye and left.
Well, one afternoon Tina and I decided to take a walk around another arm of the lake that was near the guest house. We walked an hour or so and enjoyed all the sites and sounds of wilderness India.
As the sun began to set, we started to make our way back. We were confronted by a heard of about 9 elephants standing on the path – there were a couple of females and several medium and smaller ones and a male that was BIG. Eight of them stood in a line shoulder to shoulder with their back ends facing us. The Male stood between us and them and stared us down. He stomped his feet and flapped his ears and trumpeted. He glared at us as if to say “You ain’t coming this way. Be gone!”
Dusk was coming on - that’s the time when tigers roam around looking for anything tasty. Tina and I were getting a bit up tight. The lake was to our right and a pretty thick forest was to our left and an unaccommodating pacaderm and his harem were on the path in front of us. We were quiet, we tried to be gentle, we tried to be humble we tried to be as unobtrusive as possible; we tried to sidle our way between the elephants and the lake. The BIG BOSS wasn’t having any of it. The closer we sidled the more he would stomp and flap and snort.
We took off our boots and left them on the path and then started to swim out into the lake to make a circle around the road block (Don’t worry – no crocodiles). I was carrying a camera at the time and it was pretty bloody difficult to swim with one hand while holding the camera out of the water with the other. Anyway we swam a pretty wide circle and came to land on the path that led up to the guest house where we met the Germans. After running up the hill barefoot, we got inside and then heard a reverberating roar coming from the forest. You’ve never seen 2 Germans and two Americans move so fast and trip over themselves so completely trying to slam shut and lock the door.
We spent the next day or so inside with the door locked looking out the window and waiting for our guides to come and escort us back to the park entrance. On our way back along the lake by boat we saw the same heard of elephants crossing the water right in front of us. Watching elephants swim is amazing. They are pretty much covered in water except for the very top of their heads and the tip of their trunks. They do the dog paddle. Or elephant paddle or whatever.
Anyway, I know this story is hard to believe but it is true.
Andrew
In 1986 my wife and I visited the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, South India.
We slept and did our own cooking in a 3 room, solid concrete, building with iron bars on the windows and a large concrete moat all around the outside. It was the only building for miles. We shared the place with a couple of Germans who were tourists like us.
When we first arrived at the park entrance our Indian guides received our money and then took us by boat about 30 minutes along a narrow lake to a real wilderness area. After the boat ride they led us on foot about 45 minutes to this guest house out in the middle of the woods.
We asked our guides about the moat and they told us it was to keep the elephants out. They also warned us that there were tigers in the area and to be careful. After the warnings they said goodbye and left.
Well, one afternoon Tina and I decided to take a walk around another arm of the lake that was near the guest house. We walked an hour or so and enjoyed all the sites and sounds of wilderness India.
As the sun began to set, we started to make our way back. We were confronted by a heard of about 9 elephants standing on the path – there were a couple of females and several medium and smaller ones and a male that was BIG. Eight of them stood in a line shoulder to shoulder with their back ends facing us. The Male stood between us and them and stared us down. He stomped his feet and flapped his ears and trumpeted. He glared at us as if to say “You ain’t coming this way. Be gone!”
Dusk was coming on - that’s the time when tigers roam around looking for anything tasty. Tina and I were getting a bit up tight. The lake was to our right and a pretty thick forest was to our left and an unaccommodating pacaderm and his harem were on the path in front of us. We were quiet, we tried to be gentle, we tried to be humble we tried to be as unobtrusive as possible; we tried to sidle our way between the elephants and the lake. The BIG BOSS wasn’t having any of it. The closer we sidled the more he would stomp and flap and snort.
We took off our boots and left them on the path and then started to swim out into the lake to make a circle around the road block (Don’t worry – no crocodiles). I was carrying a camera at the time and it was pretty bloody difficult to swim with one hand while holding the camera out of the water with the other. Anyway we swam a pretty wide circle and came to land on the path that led up to the guest house where we met the Germans. After running up the hill barefoot, we got inside and then heard a reverberating roar coming from the forest. You’ve never seen 2 Germans and two Americans move so fast and trip over themselves so completely trying to slam shut and lock the door.
We spent the next day or so inside with the door locked looking out the window and waiting for our guides to come and escort us back to the park entrance. On our way back along the lake by boat we saw the same heard of elephants crossing the water right in front of us. Watching elephants swim is amazing. They are pretty much covered in water except for the very top of their heads and the tip of their trunks. They do the dog paddle. Or elephant paddle or whatever.
Anyway, I know this story is hard to believe but it is true.
Andrew
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Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".
Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".