Don’t look for what is not there

Or: the elephants

Encounter 1: I am alone, following group E, far from camp. I had seen signs of elephants in the area (dung, thrashed vegetation), and then I hear them, about 50m from me. Luckily the group doesn’t seem interested in them. But they keep approaching. I must have looked funny, looking up at the siamangs, down at the PDA to enter data, and around to check if they appeared. When I thought they were coming, they communicated a bit with a farther group, and went that way.

Encounter 2: the following day, Mislan and I. Same thing, but this time, after one hour of unbearable rising tension, they finally appeared. First one, large, brown, old, 30m away; then another, small and light, black, about 15m, and while we were appreciating them from behind a large tree, we realized that it was a wave, many of them, one of which we hadn’t seen and was heading straight to us, about 8m away. It is one of those moments in which a decision should be made. Either we hide among the roots and hope they don’t see/mind us, or run like hell. Seeing Mislan suddenly darting past me resolved the doubt, we ran away, laughing like idiots. Which, interestingly, startled the elephants, who ran as well, luckily in the opposite direction. It was impressive, they were more than I thought, about twenty, and dispersed like rays of thumping noise.

Encounter 3: the following day, Budi and I. We are in an unknown area, looking for a group we have never seen before. Budi found the elephants, and run on top of a tree. Waited there. Finally climbed down, ran toward home, he thought, but found himself in the same place, again with the elephants coming toward him. This time he hid behind a stone in the river. Tried to escape again but once again was led back to the same place (and here an interesting digression on how believing in magic changes the way you understand your own experiences). Finally he escaped, ran home, but in the wrong direction, so that he found himself almost at the edge of the forest. He got home exhausted and in shock. In all this, I had found the group and followed them, while calling out for Budi and worrying. When Mislan and Usman, who were following another group, got home, they were told I was not yet there, so they came to look for me. Who was then swearing against the group, in the worst home range ever, going up and down thorny and steep hillsides and across rivers (and not even thinking about going to sleep!). Luckily it all ended well.

Encounter 4: the following day. A group of rangers patrolling the area spent the night in camp. In the morning, Budi and I heard several gunshots not far from where we were, and as we had thought, the rangers on their way out had met the elephants (and tried to scare them). And, symmetrical to Budi the previous day, the commander of the unit, when the less-than-brave group was dispersed, had run in the wrong direction, and went back all the way to camp. Funny.