"Back Away Slowly, Please!"

It was dark when we arrived the Elephant Eye Lodge, outside the Hwange National Park. This was the national park that Cecil the Lion was shot in 2015 by a dentist from Minnesota. We were a little shy telling our hosts about our hometown.

Hwange National Park has the largest collection of bull elephants in Africa. The excitement of seeing them in the wild built up as two of them came to the little pond near the campfire to drink.

The search started early in the morning. It was a privilege to see the sunrise every morning during this Africa trip. A privilege I missed, unfortunately, most of days back home.

The elephant dung was everywhere. I have been collecting pooh-poohs using my iphone during this trip, These are certainly the largest in the collection.

"Shot on iPhone 6"

The vast plains and forests of Hwange National Park are as large as Belgium. The dry season is the best time to spot many of the protected animals in sub-Saharan Africa, giraffe, zebra, warthog, kudu deer, etc ...

But where were the elephants?

The search was coming to the end, as we left the national park and headed back to the lodge. We comforted each other with the sight of their silhouette from far last night. Then, our driver whispered, "look ahead".

I really did not expect him to stop the jeep this close to the group of elephants crossing the road, which followed by this close encounter of the lifetime with a young bull elephant.

The driver turned off the engine as the young elephant came towards us, and stopped about 15 feet away. The tasks were relatively small, the ears were huge, the trunk, while, as we were almost face to face, he splashed a full blow of sands over his head with his trunk. This could not be good.

He continued to stare at us, as the rest of the group moved on. He turned away one step, seemed to hesitate, then turned towards us, moved forward two steps, now it was about 10 feet.

My heart started to race, I squeezed towards the other side of the jeep.

It was a standing still, the seconds seemed like minutes.

He continued to walk towards us, ears fanning. The driver turned on the engine. It was about time, my friend.

The young elephant was startled by the engine. He backed away two steps, the right ear towards us looked like a shield. The blood vessels were busting.

"Back Away Slowly, Please!" I whispered, more for myself.

 Now I saw the rest of the group, about 15 to 20 elephants. This would not be pretty if the young elephant led a charge.

The young elephant stopped, trunk waving, as we backed away a few more feet and stopped the engine again. I didn't like the clicks of cameras from my fellow passengers, as the young elephant moved towards us again.

I was so glad when the driver turned on the engine again, now the young elephant stopped right in front of me, merely 6 feet away.

Eye to eye, what a magnificent animal.

Thanks to my iphone6, you can watch this close encounter on youtube.

Elephant Eye Lodge: an eco-friendly lodge just outside the Hwange National Park. Thank you for your wonderful staff, especially the lovely Brightness.

Zimbabwe International Travel: a travel agency based in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.