Spring is here

I am back.. If you are wondering where I was.. I was enjoying the Sun, clear skies, Hot ..Ok..it was not that hot ..I will say pleasant weather, wearing the light jacket.. Sweating ( haha ..Some thing I do only in the gym in Zürich) and all the happiness Sunlight brings in our life.. Yes the spring is here ..officially.. there are flowers everywhere.. the bare trees have small leaves now …
Here is photo of the flowers in my garden..Aren’t they pretty?

P.S : The quality is because of my mobile and also my excitement :)

An Encounter with the African Elephant

‘A’ had the pleasure of going to private natural reserve within the Krugger National Park for an Offsite in South Africa.
Krugger National Park was a long drive along the scenic plains and forests from Johannesburg. Upon reaching Krugger we were boarded on a open Land rover. We were accompanied by experienced guides and trackers.
We had short game drives to see the flora and fauna around. One such memorable drives offered an exciting glimpse of the wild world of African Elephants.
African Elephant is different than an Asian Elephant. It could weigh between 4-6 tons and has a larger body and is very temperamental.
The guide was telling us “They live in a herd led by a matriarch. Elephant use their strong ears to catch sounds made by others from the herd ...” While he talking suddenly we saw an elephant crossing the rough road in front of us. We were about 50 meters from him. Our guide immediately stopped the engine and asked us to maintain silence and watch the event unfolding.
Within moments we saw almost an entire herd of elephants crossing the road .A few young bulls stopped by to checkout who were we – a strange looking animal. It was just beautiful. After 5 minutes all the elephants left that spot and went in deep bush.

Our guide started the Land Rover and commenced the drive. No sooner had we taken a difficult right turn with a wayward climb, than we ran into a cute baby elephant. Our guide realized the danger signal and immediately stopped the vehicle . And boy were we shocked to see a giant female elephant charging at us! Her size and aggression were very scary as she ran towards us indicating us to back off. She was a mere 10 meters away from us when our guide started the engine and began reversing. Very much mindful of possibility that the herd that just passed us could return in response to the sound of this female elephant.
The reversing was a sign of respect to the elephant who seemed to appreciate it and waited for a couple of minutes before disappearing in the thick bush herself!