Tembo Mbaya...

This week I was again reminded of the real danger of elephants. Near the house of the manager of the ranch, a local was injured by an elephant. I never heard the complete story, just bits and pieces I was able to translate over the radio, but the new word I learned was “damu”à blood. Apparently it was a lone bull so he was probably in the aggressive state of musth. Perhaps coincidentally, the same day I heard the story over the radio (the incident occurred in the morning), I went to the waterhole and on my arrival there was a musth bull leaving the area. Most likely, it was the same elephant. I heard an update yesterday that the man is in the hospital but seems to be recovering well, thank God. There have been people killed by elephants in the area in the past three years, but this is the first occurrence of direct conflict since I have been here. It is another reminder that elephants are a major concern to the people here, not just something they have done research on, as we students have. I have repeatedly been reminded of this as we pass people cleaning up their fields the morning after elephants have come through. Normally greetings are always so positive but in these instances, the grief is apparent on the solemn faces of the villagers.