Ok, so I meant to write about this on Day 1, but as it turns out, caring for elephants is a pretty steep learning curve, even after caring for drunk teenagers. And also the 6 am starts are killing my soul. So consider this Day 1, delayed by 4 days.
It's very very strange to suddenly notice where you are and think "how the hell did I get here?" It's even stranger when that place is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by elephants. Needless to say, not a place I've been before. But god, is it amazing.
They have this kind of gravitational pull - yes, ok, perhaps they are completely and totally enormous, but this pull is emotional - where you can be around them for hours and yet as soon as you leave, you want to be back with them. Watching them every day, for hours on end, you start to notice the little things. Like how Keisha likes to be alone. Or how Sally always makes sure baby Thato is safe and well-fed. Or how the young boys, Mashudu and Shungu, playfully fling their trunks at one another and chase each other in circles. You start to recognise small details, like how Thandi has a big wrinkle in her forehead, or how Nandi's skin is marked. And you start to feel that even if these magnificent animals never recognise you, never rest their trunks on your shoulder or turn around at the sound of your voice (or even acknowledge your presence), it's thrilling enough just to be close to them.
There's a lot of mess. You don't quite realise quite how much space they take up, and quite how prepared a facility has to be to house them. From dawn til dusk there are people working to feed them, clean their sleeping areas, make toys for them, cut fruit for them, and so on and so on. But when you're face to face (trunk?) with them, when you can see their deep-set wrinkles and wise brown eyes, hear the gentle flapping of their ears and reach out to touch their thick, muddied skin, all that's left is elephantine adoration.
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