Gray Shadows in the night are quite loud—Cris

Cris Journal

May 12th, 2022

Machaba Camp, Botswana

Another wow moment! We continue to be flooded by these moments one way or another on sabbatical. Now the wow comes at us on the African safari- by way of lechwe antelopes, impalas, Greater Kudus, a leopard, a dead elephant, a spotted hyena, crocodiles, hippos deep in the water, the high pitched musical bell sounds of millions of frogs, thousands of birds big and small, now a pack of hyenas, another leopard that Asher spotted, hippos on land, elephants at dusk as big gray shadows, then an entire pack of them with at least 5 small elephants trailing behind like a day care scenario and a large elephant that walked almost in front of our land cruiser just before getting back to Machaba. And that was just our short game drive on the evening we arrived here!! Just wow!

2nd wow or more like “OH SHIT!!!!” moment of Machaba happened to be that night around 4:30 am.. an elephant was grazing right in front of our tent… . Let me set the scene… Night #1 in the most beautiful safari tent I have ever imagined! The family tent is just steps away from the main dining and living room massive tent by way of a sandy candle lit path. The family tent is staged in perfect African hues of grays and browns and positioned perfectly along a tributary of the Khwai river on a smooth, refined cement slab. The tent has permanent looking posts but the rest of the tent is classic durable thick fabric with a layer for the roof and another lower under layer for the interior. The screens and doors are either zippered or roll ups to expose all or some of the elements. The enclosed bathroom has an indoor and outdoor shower (with hot water praise be to god!), beautiful dark wooden vanities with 2 sinks and 2 round hanging mirrors and deep navy thick towels on a wooden display. The family tent has three main areas- to the left of center a master bedroom fitted with a king bed, pillows galore, fitted navy sheets, wool throw blanket and dual night stands and night lights. The center area was a small living area packed with a comfy sofa, arm chairs, rustic rectangular chandelier light, beautiful jude rugs, bulging pillows and a big modern mahogany desk towards the back. The right side of the family tent was equally furnished with “room and board” design worthy twin beds with black steel iron frames, turned down with ironed fitted blue sheets, plump pillows and hued wool blankets. A scroll was sitting on the kids’ bed with a written African bedtime story about how a zebra got it’s stripes and each and every one of us got a steaming hot BUSH BABY for night time. Now the bush baby was no ordinary baby, my spirit animal mind you, but rather a rubber hot water bag covered in thick, plush fabric to warm our beds throughout the night. It was filled with boiling hot water too! The sleeping and the tent were like heaven on earth especially after more or less “roughing it” in Chipangali with scant amenities. Followed by a beyond gourmet dinner under the stars we were prepared to sleep the night away with dreams of all the wild animals we were so lucky to see on our first game drive or of the purr of the land cruiser or maybe of the slow steady cadence of Albert’s explanations of the bush flora and fauna.

Instead, I heard the loudest sounds imaginable for most of the night as an elephant or elephants roamed around our tent. The size and sounds of these animals!!

For some reason halfway through the night I took out my earplugs. I must has sensed the close-up elephant encounter to be had or I was just so hot from my beloved bush baby heater or maybe honestly it was just another hot flash!!! Without my earplugs the sounds were beyond intense. It sounded like the animal(s) was so close to the tent that I spooked myself crazy. With another thunder step or 3 ton crunch or drag I leapt straight out of bed and into Ari’s arms!!! “What is that????” Ari whispered/snapped calmly “Cris, this has been going on for hours….- there is an elephant right outside our tent.” Without turning on the light I slithered out of bed and into the center family room couch to get a better view through the screen netting. Some light from the patio flickering candle lantern shadowed something there, something very large. Ari had tip toed to the bathroom since he really hadn’t slept all night. The kids were sound asleep still on the other side of the tent, Linden with her organized sleep plan with ear plugs and pink silk eye mask and Asher with little stuffie Rhino since poor fluffy pup stuffie was left on the plane ride from Qatar to S. Africa. It was then that I really got spooked crazy and my heart was pounding through my chest. Slowly I was able to see what I was seeing!! My eyes adjusted to the dimness and right on our front patio were two large tusks hovering above my head level. Literally, there was an African elephant, the largest land mammal, about 4 feet in front of me grazing and also rubbing his back against the large trees. Ari came out of the bathroom, I summoned him to the couch with me with a tug to his arm and jumped into his lap, once again, in fear!!! We settled some and watched this beautiful elephant nonchalantly graze on trees and scrubs at 4:30 am then finally wonder off in the bush.