This Month’s Short Travel Story –

The Elephant Man

By, Gee Armstrong of Florence, Oregon

While traveling in a remote area of northern Nigeria last year, we came to a village where the residents were in a panic because an elephant herd that frequently trashed their rustic settlement was nearby.

My silver-bearded friend and I had never seen elephants up close, so of course we had to check them out.  The timid villagers stayed well behind us, assuring us that we’d be trampled.  We were able to inch our way almost into the herd.  What an awesome sight!  Suddenly an enormously tusked bull elephant–no doubt the protective leader of the herd-charged my friend, who ran to hide behind a flimsy nearby shack.

The bull elephant, his ears flapping menacingly, chased my friend around back.  Eventually my friend found himself behind the huge angry beast, starting at its colossal rump.  My friend couldn’t resist.  He reached up and spanked the elephant’s hindquarters with all his strength and then ran!

The terrified villagers scattered.  The big, beautiful bull elephant’s eyes widened with a look of shock.  It bellowed an ear-piercing shriek and thundered away, completely bewildered at having been touched by this silver-bearded alien. 

Word spread quickly in the countryside.  In the weeks to come, as we traveled, villagers instantly recognized my friend’s silver beard and welcomed him like a celebrity, greeting him as “The One Who Touches Elephants.” 

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