Page 67 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

toward us from every possible direction. They came in waves so close that we

had to re-enter the truck in order to watch the procession; the entire herd, more

than a hundred elephants, had come to say good-bye.

***

We spent the several days in Damaraland, our last stop, holding the range of

questions that had developed over sixteen years of observation and concern,

knowing that any answers would not address the greater mystery we were in, the

magic of communicating heart- to- heart across species. Mornings we spent on

regular safaris and sought the elephants in the afternoons when they would likely

be at the river until sunset.

But desert elephants are different; they have adjusted to planetary difficulties.

They can go one or two days without drinking, unlike forest elephants who must

drink their fill twice a day. Some small herds of desert elephants are tusk-less,

having genetically adapted in a very short time to poaching. Not having the

means to protect themselves, these testy and somewhat hostile elephants have

hidden themselves in remote and forbidding areas.

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