Friday 27th September 2013

I finally met, well saw, the elephant that has been hanging round my tent at night. He’s massive, about twenty years old, and has feet the size of a small coffee table.

We heard the eles were in our area so we set off in search of them on our bush walk. It didn’t take us long, they were about 750m up river from the volleyball court.

Seeing them on foot is really exhilarating, we approached them down wind but they knew we were there, they could hear us but not see us. One of the bulls raised his trunk and used it like a periscope in a sweeping motion to see if he could pick up our scent, it did and he disappeared into the bush.

Graham was able to calm them down and stop them disappearing into the bush by emitting a low grumbling noise. We then followed them a couple of times before settling down on a rock to reflect on what we’d seen.

Apparently there are two hard and fast rules in the bush. If an ele chases you up a hill or a hippo comes out of the water after you, they will get you, at that point they’re so determined.

It was so hot today, 37 degrees but apparently that is just a mild appetiser for what is to come. I did my run at 0930 and it was so hot it nearly finished me.

The heat is getting to people with a few tensions in camp, after all it’s been over three weeks of 18 students cooped up in the wilderness, it’s like a big brother style experiment.