Consultant, Environmental Science and Policy

An elephant at high noon

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (May 2001)

Greetings from Victoria Falls - the original name of which is "Mosi-oa-Tunya," which means "Thundering Smoke"! If you see the Falls from off in the distance, it really does look like a massive amount of rising smoke but you have to get a bit closer to actually hear the "thunder." Water levels were as high as can be so there was little to be seen upstream along the Zambezi river except a couple of hippos hanging around the vegetation of a submerged island. There are said to be 100,000 elephants in this "4 corners" region - the shared borders of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Droppings were everywhere, as were reports of seeing them crossing the road and hanging out by the "big tree" - a humongous baobab. I finally saw one on the last day in neither of those places, nor by the watering hole, but where anyone with any sense would be at high noon - splashing himself at the pool of a nearby hotel, following which he "carefully" uprooted a small palm tree from the garden (seen in the picture behind him to the left). On the way out, he stopped by a set table and picked up a cup but put it back down and left with his tree - all without knocking anything over. I actually spent most of the time working - taking notes at a workshop on conservation issues. At our own hotel, we were advised to keep windows closed to keep the baboons out. I saw several of them too. Since I left on two days notice, it was a rather wild trip.