Page 64 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

Next we wanted to see if other elephants would contact us outside of Chobe.

Mashatu, one of the largest privately owned game reserves in southern Africa, is

sanctuary to the largest herds of elephant on privately owned land on the

continent. We were the only guests except for the President of Botswana and his

retinue. The two guides who accompanied Cyndie, Matt and myself were

seasoned rangers, who had been partnering for many, many years. We knew

the quality of the men we were with when we were driving back after sunset and

the tracker spotted a newborn hyena in a hole behind trees and brush more than

30 yards away.

At Mashatu, we were able to create our own routine. Introduced to the animals

and terrain in the early morning hours, we spent the afternoons among the

elephants. We were particularly interested in whether the elephants would

respond to us differently than they do to the other tourists who gathered from

other lodges. From the beginning, it seemed that the Mashatu elephants found

us interesting, particularly the little ones who often came very close, not always

to the mother’s liking.

15