The island experience was probably the one thing I will NEVER EVER forget in my life! Just to give you an idea: No bathrooms! No electricity! Just a little hanging shower from a tree! And luckily an awesome chef called Royal!

The first morning we headed out on the boat at around 6am to catch the sunrise. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was totally beautiful! Seeing the colors change on the horizon..a little golden ball appearing and then higher, higher, LENS flair! WOW! Absolutely gorgeous!

After the cruise we headed back to the camp for a shower and a big breakfast. The shower water was heated for each person on the fire and then hung in the tree. During this operation an elephant decided to visit us. Now just incase you were not aware: Yes, this was the “WILD” as they said in the animated movie, Madagascar. And it was totally open area..any animals could come at any time!

So, it was my turn to take a shower and the elephant is right next to it…I waited a while and then he headed off. Everyone told me it was safe to go, so I went, but as soon as I turned on the water I heard a REALLY REALLY loud noise next to me. I realized the only thing that separating me form the elephant, was that thin piece of canvas! The next moment I remember was standing on the other side of the camp in my towel and everyone laughing at me! It all happened so quickly, and my heart was about half way up my throat!

Only after everything happend I heard the full story…the other guys (we joined a group of South African on the island) saw the elephant coming back when I entered the shower, but they wanted to take photos, so no one warned me! The black and white photo is the one iaan took of the elephant, just as he lifted his trunk to give that loud warning noise.

The last picture is nothing fancy, just some evidence to show you where the elephants were walking at night. I hardly slept in those two days. Every night you’ll wake up and hear the breaking of branches and rustling of leaves and then you’ll see the huge body of an elephant walking past your tent. This sounds overdramatic, but seriously, this is how it happened. I was terrified! This picture was taken in the early hours of the morning we left the island. You see the tent? You see the tree on the right? Well, between the tent and the tree…that where they decided to walk..Oh, yes and he didn’t like the basin (the funny thing there in the front), so he just kicked it over! When I saw that I just prayed he wouldn’t feel the same way about out tent!