An Unforgettable Encounter with the Elephants of Africa

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An unforgettable life-changing encounter with the Elephants of Africa
I want my children to know the wonders of life- J. David Bell, “The Last Days of the Frog Prince”
Three years ago, I had a fantastic opportunity to visit Africa with my family. This was my first time in Africa, and I could not hide my excitement. My father had been planning this trip for several years, and he felt this was the right time to make the journey finally. Before the trip, I spent lots of time reading and researching Africa and having the best experience when visiting the continent. We were going to visit the East African region to experience its world-famous safaris. The peak of the journey was visiting the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. This was an exhilarating experience as we came across many different animal species, including all the big five animals, including the lion, rhino, leopard, elephant, and the Cape buffalo. Of these, my most memorable life-changing experience was with my encounter with the elephants. I came 10ft close to a herd of elephants and learned a lot from watching their interactions with the help of our tour guide. This encounter had a massive impact on my outlook on life, particularly regarding values such as teamwork, leadership, and respect for authority.
We took our trip to Tanzania in January of 2019 in the winter. We spent four thrilling days experiencing the vastness of the park, enjoying the warm equatorial weather of East Africa, and coming face to face with nature. The peak of the trip for me came on the second day when we encountered a herd of elephants. There were about 12 elephants of different sizes. As our tour guide explained, the elephants in the group were all related and formed a family that the oldest female elephant led in the group. I could not help but notice one large and scary elephant that seemed to be the leader of the group. There were about two other big elephants, but they were not as huge as their leader. According to our tour guide, one of these two was being groomed to take over the leadership once the current leader dies or retires due to poor physical health. There were several mature elephants and about three baby elephants.
We spent about three hours watching and following the elephants closely that evening. I noticed that they had a way of communicating that enabled them to stay connected with each other. I could hear them making different noises that I could not make sense of, but I guess they all understood each other. The young elephants were very playful and could be seen running up and down but never going too far away from the herd. The leader set the tone for everything that was taking place in the family. For example, when the leader started walking, they all followed behind, and when she stopped, the whole herd stopped. I witnessed this when the elephants were walking towards a pool of water nearby to have a drink. They all went at the same time and returned to their 'home' after having their drink. I also noticed that the older elephants were quick to offer protection to the smaller ones in the group. The baby elephants felt protected by the older ones in the group.
In one instance, at the ...