The elephants arrived last night as silently as Sandburg’s fog. But we could hear their crunching and munching, their rumbling and an occasional trumpet all night long. One was so near that the moon cast her shadow on our tent. They were still around at dawn, nearly 30 of them. One, not noticing me – I stood stone still – approached to within 15 feet before I made a strategic retreat for the tower and it did its startled elephant thing. Personal elephant stories were the main course at breakfast - "Last night I saw an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I'll never know!" I was surprised because nearly everyone here is a veteran of Africa – former VSO teachers, residents or return visitors. But they have all left and we have the camp to ourselves. We ate dinner alone under the African stars, a la Redford and Streep in Out of Africa.
