Arnie B. Kanter
In Kenya, Amboselli is known for its elephants. Our host at Ol Kanjo, the small tented camp at which my wife, Carol, and I are staying, is Mike, an American who has lived with his wife, Judy, in Kenya for more than forty years. As we drive down the dirt road, Mike notices a family of elephants approaching. At first, there appear to be ten or fifteen elephants, but as the group approaches, it swells to thirty, then, forty. Carol and I sit in the open jeep with Mike, watching in awe as the family ambles towards us, passes close by and continues, forming a long, gray line that stretches horizontally across the dusty, brown plain. At the far end of the line, two large elephants trudge slowly away, their small calf, taking two steps for each one they take in order to keep pace, between them. Some elephants find solace in large groups, others in their nuclear families.
Mike smiles at us, satisfied. “Now that was a good sighting,” he says, simply.
See Arnie’s photographs and Carol’s poems from their three trips to Africa in their beautiful book, NO SECRET WHERE ELEPHANTS WALK by Dual Arts Press.
© Arnold B. Kanter
elephants in large, natural numbers, are a consolation
Thanks Judy!