In Africa it is said that a day spent watching elephants in the wild is not counted in the sum of days a person has left to live.
I have witnessed the lives of elephants in Zimababwe, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana. Alongside them, I felt both small and enormous, all at once.
Now elephants come to me in my dreams and their photographs stare at me from frames on my walls. Words about them leave footprints I follow across blank white pages.
A Kikuyu elder once said to me, “Man and the elephant, they have something together, eh?”
Together. Inhabiting the earth. Lives enlarged.
Larger than Life
Beautifully written. So much said with so few words. Lovely.
Thanks Summer!
I work around elephants in a very different way, in a zoo environment, unfortunately not in their natural habitat, and without sounding ridiculous…. I learn something almost every time I am with them……there is so much represented in those kind, kind eyes.
What a great eye and lashes they draw you right in.
I have to admit Cheryl, before meeting you the elephants were always tied with giraffes as my favorite animals to observe at the zoo. Now, reading your posts and seeing your photographs, I find that I’m losing myself on an almost daily basis in dreams and fantasies about visiting the places you’ve been, and meeting the amazing people and elephants you’ve encountered. Thank you for letting me live vicariously through your adventures and I definitely plan on visiting Africa sooner than later – I feel a need to gaze into one of those awe inspiring eyes myself!
~ M
Very nice! And I love their eyes.
So grateful to have found this blog! I am writing a very different sort of story, but this evening wrote a rough draft that says, though in different words, “Alongside them, I felt both small and enormous, all at once.” Your passion shines through.
Thank you! I am on the road, but will check out your blog soon!
Looking forward, Cheryl! Here’s the post I was referring to: http://bit.ly/NZi2yF (The Elephant Nebula)
Thank you for following! I’ve just returned from a 3-week vacation traveling around the U.S. and will be posting more elephant stories soon!
I couldn’t see where to put comments on some of your other blogs, but I have to tell you that they are rivetting… especially the lions, and the last shot of them cuddled up like two little pussies!!!
Thanks Valerie – that was truly one of those lucky in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time photographs.