We have been so blessed recently to have been on many safaris. We have been in numerous trucks, big and small, a boat, and even on quad bikes, but now was the time to saddle-up and head off into the bush on the back of an elephant!
We were picked up from our backpackers lodge early in the
morning of our thirty-fourth month wedding anniversary, and made our way out of
town with a bunch of older travelers who were in Zimbabwe as part of a group
tour. Adventurous older people, we like it! Upon arriving at a massive,
beautiful wooden lodge with a thatched roof, we were led into a room to receive
instruction about our ride. We were excited, and even a fifteen minute chat on
elephant safety couldn’t dampen the mood.
Shortly after, we were introduced to a couple of elephants, in order to ease any nerves that we might have had. We were really excited, and so this nerve suppressing exercise just fueled our fire even more. After touching a massive elephants head and trunk, we were ready to mount Emily the elephant for our “safari.”
Climbing onto a platform, we realized just how tall these
elephants were. We joined our handler, Stanley, on Emily’s back, and sat down
on the saddle with our feet in the stirrups. If we were blind, we would have
believed that we were on a really fat horse.
This was a great moment for Laleinia! Riding an elephant has been one of her dreams since she was a kid. She couldn't cry tears of joy because she was just so excited to hop on and ride.
This was a great moment for Laleinia! Riding an elephant has been one of her dreams since she was a kid. She couldn't cry tears of joy because she was just so excited to hop on and ride.
A couple of minutes later, we were off! Don't be fooled by
how graceful elephants look when they are walking, it is quite a bumpy ride.
Comfortable, but bumpy. The elephants had to stay in a specific order,
something to do with hierarchy or something like that, but it was really fun.
Our elephant, Emily, had a baby, who was being ridden by another handler right
beside us the whole time. The parents were riding on a massive one, like a
Wooly Mammoth without the wool.
In an attempt to appreciate our experiences, we like to ask
ourselves “What am I doing right now?” from time to time. It is an odd
experience when the answer to that is “Looking at the spray from Victoria Falls
as I ride an elephant in Zimbabwe.” It was just amazing, and can’t really be
put into words. Although we will say it was one of the most expensive things we
have ever done, but definitely worth it.
We fed the elephants after we got off. They understand a bunch of commands; we would tell them to put their trunk up and they opened their mouths, into which we literally threw food. Such a fun experience. After saying goodbye to “our” elephants, we went back into the lodge, had breakfast, and watched a DVD of our elephant-back safari.
By the way, we should mention that we didn't see anything on
our elephant-back safari apart from other elephants being ridden by other
tourists. However, that wasn't a problem, since at the end of the day we
weren’t looking for any other types of animals. We were on the back of an elephant,
with our legs being swatted by two huge ears. We weren’t looking for anything
else, but instead were consumed in the moment with Emily the elephant and
Stanley, the handler.
What a great experience. We feel like riding an elephant
ranks up there with hiking on the Great Wall of China (which we have done!),
and snorkeling off Puka Beach in the Philippines (which we have also done!). We
feel so blessed, and try not to take for granted the great experiences that we
have had thus far in our marriage. It is so fun to have dreams and to be able
to see them come to life.
After the elephant-safari we visited Big Tree, which believe
it or not is a massive tree. It is estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500
years old, and is about 17 meters in diameter. It was quite cool, but after
taking a few pictures and walking around it, we had soaked enough in.
As we were looking at the tree, some guys came out of nowhere to sell some crafts. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, Mum had traded her shoes for some wooden dishes. A few hours later, Alastair used some of his trusty socks as a makeweight in a barter for some stone heads. The Zimbabweans argued that even if they had some money, they couldn't buy things of good quality in Zimbabwe now.
Thinking back on the deals that we had made, we laughed and
laughed, and then considered how normal this could be in Zimbabwe. It kind of
makes sense though that they would trade goods, since just a few years ago the
economy was hit with hyperinflation, which made people lose all trust in the
currency. Zimbabwe has no currency now, and everything is in US Dollars, British
Pounds, the Euro, Botswana Pula, South African Rand, and Zambian Kwacha. It is
really quite interesting. We bought some of the inflated currency off the
street also, exchanging a few dollars for literally billions of Zimbabwean
dollars. Nice piece of history to have.