Nope, I wasnt smoking something strange nor had I been drinking! they were not pink elephants but the real ones.... but what an amazing experience.
We were having dinner last night and my two jack russels were going beserk! they often do when there are small animals around. AFter about half an hour I heard some loud crashes and bangs and the most unmistakable sound of angry elephants trumpeting and that lovely rolling brrrrrrrrrr sound. As I could not see them from my house, I packed all the extended family up into my car and went over to my BIL and we watched a rather surreal scene. Thirty elephants bent on getting every mango off every mango tree in our area. and me shouting 'look look, Fil, fil'. Now our little enclave is surrounded by a World Heritage Site but we are not fenced off, so animals just move around freely. Always at this time of the year, the eles (as we call them here) get a whiff of lovely, juicy delectable mangoes and they cruise over (but always late in the afternoon or at night) to have their fill. They first shake the tree and it rains torrents of mangoes, then for some reason, maybe because not all the fruit falls down, they begin to break the branches and whole trees. Last night we even saw them standing on their back legs reaching high up into the sky to pick the last few that have escaped that lascivious trunk. Later one large male came sauntering over to my cherished herb garden, I turned up Led Zeppelin hoping that the ele would be scared off, he wasn't so I am assuming with their finely tuned ears he has an appreciation for some good Rock music !!!! He only went off when I banged two big pots together. The landscape today looks a little trashed, but it will recover, because as soon as the mangoes are finished, the eles move off to other areas.
Another beautiful day in Africa.
Nicks
We were having dinner last night and my two jack russels were going beserk! they often do when there are small animals around. AFter about half an hour I heard some loud crashes and bangs and the most unmistakable sound of angry elephants trumpeting and that lovely rolling brrrrrrrrrr sound. As I could not see them from my house, I packed all the extended family up into my car and went over to my BIL and we watched a rather surreal scene. Thirty elephants bent on getting every mango off every mango tree in our area. and me shouting 'look look, Fil, fil'. Now our little enclave is surrounded by a World Heritage Site but we are not fenced off, so animals just move around freely. Always at this time of the year, the eles (as we call them here) get a whiff of lovely, juicy delectable mangoes and they cruise over (but always late in the afternoon or at night) to have their fill. They first shake the tree and it rains torrents of mangoes, then for some reason, maybe because not all the fruit falls down, they begin to break the branches and whole trees. Last night we even saw them standing on their back legs reaching high up into the sky to pick the last few that have escaped that lascivious trunk. Later one large male came sauntering over to my cherished herb garden, I turned up Led Zeppelin hoping that the ele would be scared off, he wasn't so I am assuming with their finely tuned ears he has an appreciation for some good Rock music !!!! He only went off when I banged two big pots together. The landscape today looks a little trashed, but it will recover, because as soon as the mangoes are finished, the eles move off to other areas.
Another beautiful day in Africa.
Nicks