08/10/2026
Weekly Recap: Continued
As we moved, we began finding heap after heap of elephant dung.
Some old and dry. Others much fresher.
The children began putting the pieces together.
The repeated signs suggested we were moving through a regularly used route. From what we could observe that morning, the elephants appeared to be travelling between the community landscape, the Ewaso River and the direction of Loisaba.
The landscape had become a map.
We stopped at a safe distance and watched.
Tony and John drew the children’s attention to the elephants’ behavior. The herd appeared calm. The children were calm too.
From where we stood, they practiced looking for physical characteristics that might help distinguish males and females.
Then Tony asked another question.
“What happens if the matriarch dies? Who takes responsibility for leading the herd?”
Nangufu and Gabu quickly proposed another female.
Tony didn’t simply tell them whether they were right. He encouraged them to discuss it.
What would make another elephant capable of leading?
Age?
Experience?
Relationship?
Knowledge?
Elephant families carry knowledge across generations. Older females can hold decades of experience about movement routes, water, food and how to respond to changing conditions. When a matriarch dies, leadership commonly passes to another older, experienced female within the family.
So becoming a matriarch isn’t simply becoming the next elephant at the front.
She has spent years learning the landscape.
We stayed long enough to watch the herd descend toward the river before continuing in the direction of Loisaba.
Eventually, we reached the river too, by which time the Wildlife Kids were most ready for one of their favorite leisure activities: swimming.
Afterward we returned to camp, gathered together for a short recap and had lunch.
Wanting to know more about the sort of learning John experienced over the past two weeks, we asked Tony and he a question:
What happens when a guest asks you to do something that violates your moral or ethical responsibility as a guide?
Tony began even earlier than the moment of refusal.
A good guide helps visitors understand the rules of the place before the problem happens.
You welcome them.
You familiarize them with where they are.
You explain how they are expected to conduct themselves.
You give clear instructions.
And you establish that their experience here happens within the boundaries required to protect the place, its wildlife and themselves.
It struck us that this was the same lesson the children had practiced only hours earlier.
We wanted to reach the river.
The elephants were in our path.
Nobody made the elephants move.
Nobody needed to get closer.
Nobody insisted that because the river was our destination, the route belonged to us.
We read what was happening.
And we changed course.
There is a kind of experience that allows you to see an animal with your eyes.
Then there’s a kind of experience that allows you to become part of something extraordinary because of the way you showed up in that moment.
“Contending with our internal compass of morals and ethics for extrinsic rewards, is both a short term loss and long term loss; and it’s on us to help our guests understand this.”
