This is an African Elephant Bull. Our guide indicated that he was around 30 years of age and in his prime. Males stand around 13 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh over 13,000 pounds. His tusks alone weigh over 50 pounds. They can rip trees right out of the ground with their trunk and tusks. They are big, strong, and smart.
We spotted this guy calmly grazing off in the distance and our guide decided to see if we could get closer to him. And so, after reminding us to keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle and that we need to stay seated, off we went through the grassland to get a closer look.
Let me tell you, as we got closer, I didn't need anyone to remind me to keep my arms and legs inside the vehicle. It's hard to describe just how massive these animals are. Remember, I am taking the photos from an open air range rover, so I'm sitting up pretty high. Johan, our guide, maneuvered the rover closer and turned the vehicle to enable us to get a clear line of sight so we could watch this amazing animal as he grazed.
At some point, he decided that he would like to get a better look at us as well and he began to move slowly, but steadily, towards our vehicle.
Almost before we knew it, he was up close and personal. Like I could almost reach out and touch him close ( I didn't because I was pretty sure he would rip my arm off if I tried). And this is the moment where trust comes into play. I have to trust that this animal will not harm me. I have to trust that my guide would get us out of harms way if need be. And this animal, this big, huge, male must also trust us. His only real enemy right now is mankind. I don't know if you are aware, but elephants are under extreme threat from poaching. The poachers are using the trust that these animals have placed in humans against them. And yet, this elephant still made the choice to trust us on this day.
And this moment of mutual trust births something magical. It allows us to all be in the same place, at the same time, simply observing and enjoying the moment. I'm not sure what the elephant got out of the moment other than he was able to assuage his curiosity about us, but I walked away with an amazing appreciation for and greater understanding of these animals. Not to mention some awesome photo's. In fact I enlarged one of my photos' of this guy and he now hangs on our wall in our breakfast room.
Trust these days is an issue. I get it, trust requires us to be vulnerable. To display trust we must be willing to show our weak side. It is uncomfortable to be vulnerable around those who can cause you harm. And no one wants to be the first person to show their weak side to a potential enemy.
However, if we refuse to extend trust to others, if we resist being vulnerable, we will miss out on the magic moments of connection. And connection is the reason we are all here, in this place, at this moment. Those moments of connection, of greater appreciation and understanding, they are sacred. They are what we were created for. And by refusing to be the first ones to extend the hand of trust to others, we end up stomping all over those sacred moments with our dirty feet. And we miss something valuable.
So my challenge to myself and to you is to be the first one to offer trust and vulnerability to someone else. Begin to bravely seek those moments when you can gain a greater appreciation and understanding of those around you. You can agree to disagree with someone without removing the bond of trust. My hope is that we all learn to set aside these feelings of mistrust and learn to come together towards some mutual understanding. Maybe, just maybe, if we all try this, our world will line up with the vision that God has for it, instead of the vision that we each individually hold. Hmmmmm, wouldn't that be amazing?
So, with that thought, I'll leave you with a few more photos of this amazing animal. Have a great week!
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