Shila Travels: I. Met. An. ELEPHANT!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY LIFE!

There are some cool Stepping Stones things that have happened, but I'm dedicating this entry to my travels, because guys. I have just had the most INSANELY AWESOME TIME EVER! I'm finally home after a 12 hour bus ride (aka the hottest sauna on the planet), and I am exhausted, bruised, sunburned, and hoarse. But it was all worth it. The trip was MARVELLOUS and SPECTACULAR, and truly out of this world!

Kate, Julia (a lovely SSI volunteer here for a month) and I decided to finally explore Africa. And oh my god. NO WORDS!!!

I still can't even believe that any of it is real!!! I feel like everyone and their dog should come here as a number one travel destination. The whole thing was EPIC!

I don't have the energy to explain it all, but in a nutshell, we went to Kasane, by the Chobe National Reserve in Northern Botswana, and then hit up Zimbabwe for some adventures. All of it was INCREDIBLE! A boat safari! A game drive! White water rafting! Traditional dancing, music, and meals! Stunning sunsets! A SHOWER! Wine! Victoria Falls! AND SO MANY INCREDIBLE ANIMALS!!!!!!!!

Our first encounter with the animals was on a boat safari in Chobe, and I LITERALLY cried tears of happiness when we got up to our first elephants. I was just SO overwhelmed by it all! I was the most genuinely happy person on the planet to see such beautiful animals! Elephants are so majestic!!! And to see them in the wild… just, wow. WOW!

We saw elephants galore, hippos, lions, water buffalo, baboons, kudu, monkeys, crocs, reptiles, giraffes, antelopes, impalas, cool birds, and ostrich. Practically the entire cast of the Lion King.

I also ate warthog (a surprisingly delicious thing) and mopani worms (NOT so delish)!

A total dream come true. I felt like I was on a different planet!

And to top it all of.

Guys.

Yesterday, my one and only African wish came true:

I FINALLY GOT TO HANG OUT WITH AN ELEPHANT!!!!!

I've seen elephants before, but I've never had the chance to actually touch one, let alone RIDE one! And it has been something I've been dreaming of for years and years. We did a safari on elephant back, and then got to hang out with and feed our new pals!

It was incredible!!!!!

I cant even articulate the magic!

My heart exploded!

Since I'm so wiped, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Here are some highlights from the trip!

Africa is stunning. Truly stunning.

And my heart couldn't be happier about anything!!! What a time!

I'll write soon :)

After a trek down a cliff, we were ready to start the white water rafting on the Zimbezi river!

Our team!

There are no words for how beautiful it was there. The pictures do NO justice!

16 KILOMETERS OF RAPIDS!

Adrenaline, omg!

Our first flip! We were going down a class 5 rapid, the highest level you can go on commercially, and we all got thrown. We ended up having to climb onto the bottom of the raft (which was at that point facing up) and hung on for dear life through two other rapids. SO INTENSE!

I was definitely a little scared!

HI!

I'm hanging on for DEEEEAR LIFE!

Stunning!

Chobe national reserve- TRULY stunning!

Water buffalo errwhurrr!

My heart stopped beating. Our first set of elephants. I literally, literally cried tears of happiness!

You scratch my back, I scratch yours!

Wowwww wow wow wow so close

My heart exploded. I cant even deal with how majestic they are!

The happiest gal in all the land!

I died and went to heaven. Omg. Baby elephants!

A mopani worm!!! I ate about 1/3 of it and it was CHEWY!

Freezing but excited for our 6am game drive!

So. Close. Omg.

We were SO LUCKY, we saw LIONS!!!!!!!!!

Impala, described as the McDonalds of Africa. Fast food for all the big hunters!

Kudu! It ended up being one of my favorites because of how neat and exotic it is!

GIRAFFE!

On our way to Zimbabwe, and there were ELEPHANTS just hanging out on the highway!

Having a drink while overlooking a waterhole. Life cant be more perfect!

Traditional Zimbabwe music and dancing- AMAZING!

Our dinner ended, and THEN, everyone got a drum!!! There was an INTERACTIVE DRUM SESSION!!!!! I basically want to give up my life plan and become a bongo player. It was so so so unreal!

Shoestrings- the hostel that entirely stole my heart!

A wild elephant INSANELY close to us!

Chomp!

Hi pals!

On a houseboat with an open bar- hellooooo fun times!

Life = complete. Seriously!!!

The keeper was Gift, my elephant was Star!! She's 23, one year my senior, and she was simply the best elephant you could ever meet. Ever!

Time for some noms!!! Star is a miracle elephant because she only has a 3/4 length trunk. Poachers killed her family, and when she was alone in the wilderness as a small baby elephant, lions attacked her and severed her trunk. Luckily she was rescued, but no one thought she would live because elephants have these two finger things at the end of their trunks that are really important. But Star is the coolest, and learned a whole bunch of new ways to eat and do things, so now she's 100% on par with her elephant peers!! Feeding her was neat, it was like a vacuum since she cant grab small objects.

Lashes! <3

Victoria Falls- the waterfall that goes on forEVERRRRR!

I'm the happiest person who ever lived!

Breathtaking!

Is this real life?

The biggest baobab tree in Zimbabwe! Roughly 1500 years old. Can you IMAGINE the things that tree has seen?

Just leave me here k? k.

Safariiiiiiiii!


I couldnt even believe any of it!

Amazing local artistry by Dexter the artist. I've never seen anything like it, he rotates a knob and the whole entire "Global Village" comes to life. I'm pretty sure he's on Facebook.