The Dark Continent

There's one road that will get us back to the entrance on Gona Rezhou conservancy. This road happened to be occupied by a heard of wild elephant. Some were off to the side looking for food but one male, a particularly large male of an already massive species, appeared to be the gate keeper for this road. Our vehicle rounded a bend to find him staring at us with two bayonet tusks and flat ears that he flexed to signal a warning. "Thomas, I think you need to reverse now" said Lin in a rather calm voice. Our guide, Thomas, pulled off a safari style 3 point turn and headed back the way we came. Meanwhile mr. Elephant let out a mean roar and toppled over nearby bush to let us know we weren't welcome. We parked hidden by some bush and waited to see what the elephant would do. He trotted along the road and ended up parallel to us and turned his back. Time to go. Thomas spun around and crept behind the already agitated elephant. We were spotted. Mr. Elephant let out another roar, put his head down to begin his charge. The other elephants noticed our altercation and also roared a harmonious "get the hell out of here!" We sped along the dirt road and the elephant charge desisted. Crisis averted.
It's amazing how the world can change in 17 hours. I was hoping I wouldn't have to fly everywhere I wanted to go but man, what a time machine those things are. I sifted through the Asian invasion at Bangkok airport and stood in line at the Ethiopian Airline counter ready to embark on a new part of the world. The city was dark and I was exhausted so I fell asleep before the plane even left the gate. I opened my eyes to a star spotted sky and guessed that we must be sailing somewhere over the Indian Ocean. I fell back asleep only to be awoken when breakfast was served. The sun was just coming up as we touched down in Ethiopia. I stepped onto the runway and felt a chill come over my body. Well it gets chilly in Africa. Who would have guessed!
One flight, two flights and there I was in Harare, Zimbabwe. I traded in the smelly streets, lady boys, tuk tuks, hagglers, rice and noodles for the dark continent. I got my bag and stepped out the front door of Harare airport and into the low afternoon sun. "Hahaha, and now I'm in Africa," I thought to myself. What a trip.