Kenya and Tanzania both provided us with multiple opportunities to observe elephants. Sure, I have seen elephants before including one encounter in the wild in South Africa. None of these encounters in any way prepared me for the time with elephants we had on this trip. There were so many of them, I was constantly taken aback by the experience. They would be traveling in groups and often several groups would be together. There were so many of them.
Each time we would come upon some, I would be momentarily amazed that there were elephants so close. Then I would realize that there were more around than I had first thought. They would be so close, so uninterested in us and so impressive. There would be all ages with senior females, younger elephants and some tiny calves. It was just incredible.
Seeing so many of them in lots of different places means it becomes harder to narrow down to a few for one post. The early experiences made a big impression on me but the later ones were still outstanding. In Amboseli, we ended up with the sun setting over Kilimanjaro as loads of elephants were grazing in the foreground. At one point, we were standing up in the truck and everywhere I looked there were elephants feeding. I took the phone out of my pocket and panned around to show just how many there were. Truly amazing.
Another time we were crossing a river and there were loads of them in the water and along the banks. They gradually made their way towards us and, at one point, an adult and a calf climbed the road away from the river and the view of them heading off was amazing. Another time, we found some up on the top of the river bank. They split up with some foraging along the shore and others fording the river to try their luck on the other side.
Another memorable moment was a lone male slowly heading by the road we were on. We stopped to watch him for a while, and he turned and started heading towards us. Having seen videos of elephants pushing vehicles out of their way, I was wondering whether we were going to have to make haste out of his way but apparently we were not his concern and we were able to stay and watch him for a while.
All of these moments were amazing but were not the sum of our encounters. We had so many times with the elephants that I can’t count them. I wish I could truly convey just how amazing they were. Forget the closer moments. Just watching a family of elephants in the water making their way through the foliage in the distance as they fed was fantastic. I just love elephants – but then I doubt that is a controversial position.
Quite a few of the planes that went to Concrete for the fly in were great STOL aircraft. Light airframes with plenty of power and high lift wings make for a really short take-off. Pilots of STOL planes are usually quite keen to show off the performance of their steeds so we knew we would get some aggressive takeoffs.
Consequently, I did try to position myself in the right spot along the runway when the STOL planes were taking off. Getting a frontal view of the plane as they pull up rapidly and climb out steeply was the goal. They usually obliged. I haven’t been to any of the STOL competitions or the recent version that involves getting airborne and back on the ground, but I would like to see that at some point. There is one in Alaska I would love to try at some point!
