Today, Jim and I did another safari.
We had several strikes against us;
I am still not recovered from my cold
And Jim is now in the throws of it.
At noon, when we left Jim was feeling okay,
(It was the large cold Lion beer I am sure.)
Luckseta picked us up in his land rover
And off we went.
Jim and I have been spoiled by
The many previous ethical safaris
That we have been on.
This was not the sort we want to be on;
Many, many safari vehicles
Vying to find elephant viewing spots.
However, we made the best of it.
Initially I took all sorts of second rate elephant photos
Until my camera battery died.
Power plugs are different In Sri Lanka.
First you stick a pencil into the top hole of the 220 outlet,
The switch is then unlocked
And you can plug in your recharger.
Then you turn on the wall switch.
I neglected this step and hence
Very soon I had no camera power.
This turned out to be a real blessing.
I let Jim and the many other safari goers
Do the photography,
And I sketched, and observed
And tried to remember everything.
Bumping along through this arid Savannah,
We saw phenomenal trees high above.
With twisted limbs
And trunks of mauve, brown,
White and pale blue,
our trip was worth it just to see the trees.
Many large and small grey rock outcrops
Looked like elephants.
The real elephants were in family group;
A dozen or so females and their calves;
From fuzzy newborns
To midsized males just sprouting tusks.
Occasionally we saw a lone male elephant.
Asian elephants seem to wear their skin
Like drooping, large gray coats.
They scuff up the dry ground
With a front foot and their truck,
And gather enough green to take a mouthful.
Once when a baby elephant got obstreperous,
( or maybe we viewers got too close)
We heard and saw an elephant mom
Give her trumpet roar.
Eventually, Jim started feeling sicker and sicker.
I am sure the jostling vehicle didn’t help.
After arriving back home,
( and another Lion beer each)
Jim went to bed,
And I ate supper for two!
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