Hello everyone!
Did you know that it’s World Elephant Day today? They say elephants never forget, and science shows they remember what matters most, from the faces of friends to the path to water they walked decades ago.
With that in mind, I wanted to ask you to share your most unforgettable moment. It can relate to pet sitting, travel, or anything else you’d like to share with us!
I’m looking forward to seeing what you have to share! 
Jenny
As an elephant lover, a special moment was when I was viewing a herd of elephants around a nearly, dried up waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. One baby elephant kept struggling to climb over the rim of the waterhole to get out without success. Suddenly one of the female elephants used her trunk to nudge its bottom with a gentle push and up and over it went. Brought tears to my eyes. Elephants are just so family-oriented and definitely do not forget.
I have sponsored an orphaned elephant since it was a baby for 12 years at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi and been privileged to visit there too.
Happy Elephant Day! 
On one magical afternoon 40 years ago, sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, conditions were perfect. The ocean was oil-slick flat, no wind at all and visibility crystal clear to the horizon 12 miles out. The sun was heading toward that horizon and 100s of square miles were laid out below me. Lighting conditions were golden and I was mesmerized by the rich tableaux of activities on the ocean surface: a ship passing just below the horizon, pods of gray whales, miles apart, heading north, a flock of pelicans gathering on the water for the night, another flock of sea birds diving on a bait ball miles away, sea lions porpoising off to wherever, scattered fishing vessels returning to port. Everywhere I looked, there was something happening on the water to watch and appreciate. Just as the sun neared the horizon, a steady flow of land birds flitted up from below coming in low over the edge of the cliff, feet to inches away, heading to their roosts in the bushes behind me for the night. It was an hour filled of magic moments.
You came to mind today @temba that sounds like the most special of moments! Baby elephants are so wonderful to watch!
@OnTheRoadAgain - thank you for sharing this. It sounds like a truly beautiful moment. Where in the world were you visiting when you experienced this?
Not a house sitting gig but when we were on assignment in Vanuatu.
We were living on a very small island that was uninhabited, we had a call on our satellite phone from our in country manager to say a tsunami was expected to hit our island that evening and they couldn’t do anything to evacuate us in such a short time. They were trying to contact someone on the nearest island but weren’t confident they would be willing to send a boat. In the end my wife and I realised there was nothing we could do (the island was very low lying with no high ground) so we just went to bed in our hut, hugged each other, said we loved each other and reaffirmed that we had the most magical life. The next morning we woke to a beautiful dawn and life went on. We are still adventuring to this day.
I was actually close to home. I’ve since spent a few 100 days on that coast but haven’t seen anything close to that afternoon’s experience.
Did you see that on TV?
No, I was actually there.
I come from Norfolk and have recently done a two week sit and I saw a lot of family and friends.
I was able to do a lot of things I hadn’t done since school 60 years ago. I sailed on the Broads in a 1927 Wherry, I went to the Battlements of Norwich Castle recently reopened after many years. Both were school trips so it was a real trip down memory lane. THS offers a wealth of opportunities to make the most of.
Tie-ing in with the elephant theme - I’m currently reading a beautiful book by Jodi Picoult on elephants and an elephant researcher. It helps that she’s my favourite author. It’s called Leaving Time, and although a novel, a great deal of research has gone into the book to depict elephant habits accurately.
Back in 1998-99 I spent one year backpacking around the world. One of the most unforgettable memories of that trip was when in Tibet. It was just when the Chinese were really starting to take over & Tibetan people weren’t allowed to have pictures of the Dalai Lama. I had a picture of him in my Lonely Planet book and showed it to a young Tibetan man who had gorgeous long braided hair. He took the book, shut his eyes and held the picture to his forehead. It was a beautiful and unforgettable moment.
Not sure if these are the most unforgettable, but -
In 2002 during the SARS epidemic no one was traveling to Asia and air fares were really cheap! I was living and working in the Los Angeles area and found a $300 RT from LAX to Bangkok. But I knew I did not want to be too exposed to SARS so hunted for a way to take advantage of that fare. I found the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in northern Thailand between Lampang and Chang Mai. I got to spend almost a week with SoonSok a resident elephant - hanging out, feeding her, walking her out to the forest and back to the camp every day. Also some cooking classes, market shopping and just relaxing. Accomodation was in a traditional Thai house - fans, comfortable beds, electricity, and western-style bathrooms (showers and toilets but no hot water - not that you need it). I wasn’t roughing it by any means! My neighbors were the resident mahouts and their families. Looking back, not sure how culturally appropriate that was 20 years ago - I did ride Soonsook’s back (but sitting right on her - no saddle or platform).
While in Thailand I found another great airfare from LAX to Singapore so went home for a few weeks and then flew to Singapore for 2 weeks. Asia travel was very cheap during SARS. In Singapore I was able to book 4 and 5* hotels for less than US$25/night (so very different accomodation than Thailand). I collect fountain pens and Singapore has some amazing fountain pen sellers who were anxious to generate any income.
In 1988 or 1989 when my father retired we traveled for about a month to the UK - rented a car and drove as far south as Canterbury and as far north as Perth. Our last week we rented a canal boat on the Shropshire Union Canal and traveled as far as the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the LLangollen Canal.
I’ll look for that book @botvot; thank you
Jodi Picoult is a good writer in case you haven’t read any of her books
Ta @Smiley Have read some of her books but didn’t know about this one.
Total solar eclipse, Texas 2024. Housesit in the path just 5 minutes from a good viewing spot. A week of nail-biting obsessing over weather, severe storm warnings, tornado watch, more iffy forecasts, a morning that was not only cloudy but foggy too, right up to go-time… patchy cloud through the first half, and then a miracle with a clear space around the sun for totality. Epic.
I just finished that book, I loved it also!
Had no idea she wrote a book about elephants, adding to my list, Thanks. I’ve read quite a few of her books.
