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May 11, 2009
Something in the air …
On a family trip to Botswana, we had just arrived at our lodge and had dinner. We were walking to our tents, when I suddenly froze and said to Alan, “What's that noise?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Alan.
“I think it’s an elephant,” I told him.
“No,” he said, “it is not an elephant.”
I could still hear it, though—and it sounded heavy. Then I looked around and I said, “Oh, really?”
I could’ve thrown a stone at the elephant—and I can’t throw a stone far. He was walking along, just pulling up trees like they were nothing. We were right by the kids’ tent and we went up on the porch to watch him. Suddenly, this huge trunk came toward us, like a big serpent. It got so close … so we decided it was time to go inside. He lost interest then, and continued on his way, walking through the campsite and pulling up trees. It was amazing to be so close.
Whenever I arrive in sub-Saharan Africa, the first thing I do is get off the plane and smell the air. I love the smell—it goes straight through my body. It smells like fire, blood, sweat, dirt, age. It’s almost primeval … and when I take a big breath and I smell that smell, I think, Oh my god, I’m home. I’m alive.
Do you have a destination that always feels like home to you? Tell me about it at:
harriet@oattravel.com
I'll be focusing on Israel in my next update, but I welcome your stories from anywhere in the world.
Harriet Lewis