What we can learn from elephants

Last weekend we took a trip to Addo Elephant Park. We managed to see quite a few animals and it was a real treat to see them. Most fascinating however was watching the gatherings of elephant at the waterholes. We can definitely learn a lot from these magnificent beasts.

Of course there were a lot of other animals I enjoyed looking at. As an online teacher I seem do do a lot of stories involving animals and I really appreciated watching the movement of the ones in the flesh. After singing “Buffalo, buffalo, can you run?” very many times, it was nice to see those distinctive horns across his head as he lumbered around.

After doing a lesson about how a tortoise’s head can pop in and out, how cute was this real one scuttling across the road? (I think they move faster than we give them credit for. Steady more than slow I’d say!)

Nicky was determined to see a dung beetle so on our way out we stopped at the various piles of dung to find one. I think they have plenty to work with!

Here is a “zebra crossing”! Sorry I couldn’t help that one!

We saw quite a few red hartebeest.

We were at a waterhole that had a lion and the guy next to us could see it. He had binoculars. But we just couldn’t. It was a bit far away, even with my lens.

What we really enjoyed watching, however was the elephants. Here are some take aways from that day:

Make time for fun.

There were two little warthogs that wanted to drink water at the waterhole. They made several attempts to come but one of the elephants kept spraying them with water. Eventually he let them in. They were having a good time though. When it was raining later we saw an elephant having a mud bath in the rain.

Make time for friends.

Check out these two smaller elephants playing with each other’s trunks. They had a bit of a communication in the way they moved their trunks at each other until finally resting them together. That was very cute.

Make time to cool off.

You can cool off with water like this elephant is doing. But sometimes we need time to ourselves just to process what has happened before dealing with stuff before launching into a decision we’ll probably regret later.

Acknowledge death and protect your future

It has been documented that elephants do recognise death in both their own kind and humans too. A few weeks prior to our visit a baby elephant had drowned in the water. We noticed how protective the elder elephants were of the younger elephants, placing their trunks on them. They don’t forget and they learn. I’m hoping to draw such wisdom from these creatures too. I’ll always acknowledge Brett’s place in my life and I’ll take the lessons I’ve learnt into the future too. Probably one huge lesson is to do my best to look after my health.

Find your tribe. Love them hard.

This is actually a slogan from a widow dating Facebook group I’ve recently joined. I’ve found that many of the other widow groups can be really depressing but this is the first one that I have really enjoyed being part of. This is because their focus is not on the past (although they do acknowledge it) but how to survive for the future. I just like the whole attitude.

Obviously your tribe can be your family, friends, or anyone who is special to you. But special people in your life should be treasured. I liked this little family that stood to one side of the waterhole. They were definitely a group that did things together.

And how cute is this little baby elephant?

Don’t forget to look after yourself

As we left we saw these two elephants eating some leaves. Don’t forget to feed your body healthy food and make time to rest and relax. Making time for this trip was definitely worthwhile for me and Nicky really enjoyed it too of course!

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