The Elephant Caves

Greetings from Gibbs Farm!

So today is a “down day” for us, meaning that we did not have much of anything planned in the way of activities. After ten incredible, but very fast-paced travel days, we are ready to chillax a bit before leaving for Zambia, where our schedule is going to be jam-packed and crazy tight. If India taught us anything four years ago, it’s that you have to have recharge your batteries occasionally or you’ll just be a dead device by the time you get home. And no one likes a zombie.

Anyway, it was a fantastically leisurely morning for yours truly. Everyone slept well (in spite of the fact that our soothing wildebeest serenade has been replaced by the thunder of avocados falling from the trees onto our metal roof and the high-pitched nocturnal squeal of the bush babies.) So I took my cup of coffee and a blanket and sat out on our verandah, which overlooks the farm and the bushes growing beans destined to be future cups of joe. I heard the (real) dairy cows mooing from their stables and watched as vibrantly colored birds flew between the jungle flowers growing around our cottage. And I took advantage of the early morning speed of the wifi to upload a few blog posts. I know that my primary role on this trip is to document it thoroughly. Hope you’re enjoying the recaps!

But here’s the thing – even when we trade in our travel hats for vacation caps, however rarely and briefly, it’s against our nature to be completely sedentary. So after a lovely literal farm-to-table breakfast, the Cash Cow, Little Calf, and I decided to take the hotel up on one of the daily activities offered to guests – a walk to the nearby Elephant Caves.

Spoiler alert – it was not the leisurely stroll we were expecting. The seven-and-half mile hike, mostly uphill, took us along a narrow path carved through the rainforest by the elephants and water buffalo headed to the mineral-rich caves, where they are able to supplement their grassy diet with necessary nutrients by licking the cave walls to release the iron and calcium deposits found there. We actually ended up walking further to the Elephant Caves today than we did to meet the gorillas a week ago! 

See that black line on the path? Those are safari ants!

Dodging squads of dangerous safari ants, clusters of stinging nettles, and piles of every kind of animal dung imaginable, we finally reached the site and once there, the LC and I followed our guide across a creek and up the steep embankment to inspect the caves more closely.

Animal activity was immediately evident. The walls were covered with holes and channels that had been carved into the soft rock by elephant tusks and buffalo horns, and the ground was carpeted in poo and small piles of multi-colored minerals, no doubt coveted by the humongous horde of baboons watching us intently (and loudly) from the surrounding trees. In spite of the arduous journey required to get there, the caves were very cool…in both interesting factor and in temperature, which was appreciated!

I don’t know that we would have made hike if we’d known that it was going to be so strenuous, but I’m glad that we decided to finish it, even though it wasn’t at all what we were anticipating. We returned a little more knowledgeable about this part of Tanzania.

And of course, after all of that exercise, we earned seats at the most important event of the afternoon…lunch 😀

Hakuna Matata!

The Calf