In the middle of a herd of elephants

Each morning at Chapungu (the name of our tent camp and the African name of the short tailed eagle) we are awakened by a knock on our door at 5:30 am.   We gather at the beautiful outdoor lounge for coffee and homemade biscoti and then leave for the morning safari around 6:15 am.  It's a little scary if I thought about it to walk there in the dark wild animals roam freely through the camp.  Dressed in all my many layers from head to toe, literally, I get into the big Land Rover.  Even climbing in the thing is a challenge.  And then we head out to see what we can see.  This morning wasn't so extremely cold, which brought out more animals and made all of us much happier.  We came upon (I'm sure the guide knew this den) a family of hyenas.  One big cub was crunching a hip bone with a broken femur attached.  Even though the cub looked adorable, the crunching reminded me of their place in the savannah ecosystem.  Then we cruised with the 4 wheel drive on down a sandy riverbed and turned off into the bush (always a sign there are some animals nearby).  This time, it was a herd of elephants.  

We found ourselves right in the middle of the group.  Some of the elephants looked at us, not startled but curious.  They continued their feeding, breaking and tearing the trees apart.  Some of them walked really close to us, so close I could see their eyelashes.  It was incredible to be sitting right in the middle of the herd in an open car.  Up close, you can't miss how very big they are.  They moved in a slow sauntering rhythmic walk until one didn't.  It didn't like us there, raised up it's head, put its trunk up and raised its ears out and started charging the truck.  We quickly moved away and the elephant watched us and let us go.  The power of their wildness erased any romantic or poetic images I had conjured up.  Next after driving along (really more like careening through the bush) bumping and banging up and down, skidding around the corners, we came upon another Land Rover and there was a male lion just walking down the road.  He is truly the King and he walked slowly and unhurried by us and continued even as we pulled up like in a parade behind him.  Perhaps he walked a 1/2 kilometer with us following along.  He was pure power and it was clear he could move really really fast if he wanted to.  Finally he turned off, jogging into the bush.  On the way back to the camp, we passed many impalas, a group of zebras and I just soaked in the amazing beauty of this place, this morning and feel so fortunate to have had this experience.  We arrived at camp at 9 am, and my driver to take me to the airport was there.  Quickly, I passed out the tips, settled my bill and got into the car to leave this paradise.  The plane was 3 hours late, so I arrived in Cape Town after dark.  My B and B is more like an old fashioned 1930.s rooming house run by Indians.  I am tired.  It is raining and I hope my dreams are filled with images of the beautiful animals and colorful birds of Thornybush.