watching for elephants

I step off the plane, my breath catching as my lungs expand with the intense heat. The sun is hot. Palm trees line the runway. I am in Mombasa. My first site visit with this new job, new org, new location. We drive an hour outside the city and the roads are awesomely smooth - I am impressed. Lorries pass us on both sides and deep billows of exhaust straggle through the open windows. I cough. Turning off the awesome road we drive inland. The road begins to disappear, becoming a more bumpy overgrown path, rugged with deep crevices and holes filled with muddy water. I look out to the vast open land - as far as I can see is shrubbery and brush. It is very dry. Red soil spins around as the wind blows. An hour passes and we take a few more turns, now deep into the rural countryside. It is green here. Lush. Trees are tall and the grass is high. Rolling hills give way to a stream, huts are scattered to the left and right. I am told over there is "Canada" - what the locals call an electric wire that runs through the district for miles (and was put in by the Canadian government). We are now driving along Samburu (not to be confused with Samburu National Park - as I was all day). This area is known for elephants! Lots and lots of elephants. My colleague is telling me story after story of when they were out at a project site and a herd of elephants walk right through. My eyes are watching - I want to see an elephant! People pay hundreds of dollars to go on safari and I've been doing it for my job today - I want to see an elephant! A few dick dicks graze under the shrubs. Large birds fly low and scrabble that high pitched noise I hear in the city. Silence falls. Still no elephants. We drive on. The day is long and hot, my left arm is becoming sunburned as it rests out the window, but I don't care. I'm in AFRICA! Driving through the bush looking for elephants. :-) Well, really we are driving from one village to the next checking on water filters, tanks, pans, goats, bees and some more goats. But I pretend, just for a little while, that I'm on safari, watching for elephants!

I didn't see one, by the way. I am assured next time.