TURNIPSEED TRAVEL
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Partner With Us
  • New Visitors
  • Social Media

Death Sets With The Sun In Botswana's Chobe National Park

13/1/2020

 

On the banks of the Chobe River, an elephant mourning ritual shows that the cycle of life and death has never been so raw.

​​Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase, we may be paid a small commission.

Elephant on a river bank examines the bones of a dead baby elephantPicture
The bones are loose and barely holding together. The meat and sinew have all but disappeared. What little is left threatens to slip away at any moment, taking what remains of the little elephant and scattering it along the river bank,  letting it slip into the water, letting it melt away.

There's a sense the other elephant knows this. Though he uses his trunk to jostle and even toss what is left of the baby's remains, there's a gentle urgency to it. Wake up. Wake up now and you won't be left to fragment. Wake up and you won't be reduced to crumbs.

I am intruding. There is an intimacy here between the living and the dead that's palatable. This is a private moment. While our safari vehicle is a safe distance away - respectable, even - I feel awkward, embarrassed by our proximity, ashamed by how hungrily I suck back the scene. If asked, I would use my interest in nature as a shield. Exactly how often does one see an elephant mourning ritual? Perhaps if I cling to this I'll feel better about the moisture which goes everywhere save for my parched mouth.

​The sun is starting to set. In less than an hour the park will be black. I am haunted by this jumbled-up pile of bones and by this adult who won't mosey on. I want to scream at it to move lest it spend all night next to a corpse, easy pickings for predators and ghosts alike. But its grief is a glue.

A distant passage I once read awakens in my mind, like a lazy cat indulging in a luxurious stretch after a very long nap. "Her face was like stone." It takes me more than a year to place it. It's from Bruce Northam's Globetrotter Dogma: 100 Canons For Escaping The Rat Race and Exploring The World and it reads:

​"While visiting a hospital in Delhi, India, I observed a mother carrying her dead infant down a long dim hallway, out the front door of the hospital, and into her gruesomely impoverished neighborhood. Her face was like stone."

The beauty of Botswana's Chobe National Park contains an embarrassment of riches. It is a lifetime of journeys away from the grim hospital and tableau of death Northam observed decades earlier. But his words about grief won't leave me. I can hear them in the elephant's gentle grunting breath.

Her face was like stone. Her face was like stone. Her face was like stone.


Comments are closed.
    Recent Posts
    Posts by Location
    Turnipseed Travel Category Canada
    Turnipseed Travel Category USA
    Turnipseed Travel Category Europe
    Turnipseed Travel Category Africa
    Turnipseed Travel Category Australia
    Turnipseed Travel Category Asia

    Post Categories

    All
    $200 Challenge
    200m Challenge
    Accommodation
    Africa
    Amsterdam
    Anti Adventurist
    Asia
    Australia
    Belgium
    Business Travel
    Camping
    Canada
    Central Counties
    Cozy Travel
    Destinations
    Europe
    Experiences & Activities
    Female Travel
    Food And Drink
    Gear And Packing
    Golf
    Greece
    Guest Posts & Interviews
    Health
    Inspiration
    Making Travel Memories
    Montreal
    Most Popular Posts
    National Parks
    Norfolk County
    Ontario
    Ottawa
    Paris
    Partners
    Pet Travel
    Photo Essay
    Preparation
    Press Trip Portfolio
    Reviews Accommodation
    Reviews Gear Packing
    Round The World
    Saving
    Toronto
    Transportation
    Travel Cooking
    Travel Memories Series
    UK & Ireland
    United States

    Posts by Date

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

Disclaimers, Privacy, and Cookie Policy

Top 100 Travel Influencer
As named by the Obama White House in 2014.​
White House Study Abroad Logo 2014
Turnipseed Travel Logo 2019
DMCA.com Protection Status
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Partner With Us
  • New Visitors
  • Social Media