antipodes

The full moon rose over the Okavango Delta as I lay in bed listening to the elephant wade through the water. The sloshing was a fresh sound, just like a person walking through the shallows only louder. And it grew even louder, so I got up to see if the elephant was really headed to my bedroom. The moon was bright enough to caste shadow, so the mass of the elephant was as clear as its outline and the young bull definitely was coming my way. If an elephant approaches, I’d been told to stand still and stay upwind, since they don’t like to the smell of people. I had little control of the wind, so I stood very still. The elephant walked to the side of the porch, not 10 feet from where I stood, placed his forehead on the trunk of the ilala palm, arched his back to get his weight forward and then shook the hell out of the tree. Forty feet above the fronds trembled like feathers at the end of a duster given a vigorous shake. The fruit of the Ilala fell like shot and the elephant popped a few into his mouth, munched loudly and moved on to the front steps where he stopped to molest another ilala. I crept along the edge of the porch to the top of the steps. An elephant in moonlight is a magnificent sight.

(all drawings are gouache on paper, 9″x12″)