When the Elephant Came to Visit.
Mazhou camp has an electric fence to keep the animals out so we thought it would be relatively safe, except that when we arrived we found out that the gate had been broken a few nights before by an elephant.
One evening, after the camp was asleep after a long day of exploring, another elephant broke through the chain barrier gate and wandered straight into camp. Not just anywhere — it stopped right outside Rose and Lawrences tent and began chewing grass and breaking branches.
Rose didn’t sleep a wink, listening to its every chew, every rustle, as if that wasn’t enough, in the not too far distance they could hear the roar of lions. They were having the full African camping experience. Meanwhile Derek and I fast asleep in our silent camper, windows closed because it was cold. We did stir a little when we thought we heard a branch crack. In unfenced game parks, you’re sharing space with wildlife so leaving your tent at night is generally not advised. You stay in your tent until dawn to avoid potential encounters with predators, which means you might need to know how to use a shewee.
The rangers arrived in the morning, very calm, very professional — but also armed with a rifle, which one of them fired into the air to persuade the elephant to leave. Slowly, majestically, and with no regard for the campers, the elephant lumbered away, back out the camp gate. The baboons, meanwhile, sat at the camp entrance under the tree watching, waiting, patiently, plotting their turn to raid the camp. A neighbour camper had a flash light he used to scare them off.
A lovely game park right at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers at the junction of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
