More than What Meets the Eye

The eye is the portal to the soul – the lashes are the protection from the drops of life that come through to harm. Look closely as you see yourself and the love of life through the opening to an animal’s heart. They see you, as you look at them, they are also looking back at you.

In the summer of 2015 Myself and my boyfriend at the time made the decision to travel to Zimbabwe for a fun and youthful trip. It was one of those things that was thought through but also not made with a logical mind as the focus was on the experience and not so much the logistics of what it meant to travel alone for the first time. This decision was made as we sat in the halls of our college and came across a website for volunteering in Africa. It took maybe five minutes to make the decision to go. We both loved wildlife and we knew we wanted a sense of freedom in a land that gets overlooked for beauty.

Here I was, six weeks in the middle of Africa surrounded by bare and open land as far as the eye could see – as far as my soul could feel. I was in honored by my daily interactions with the elephants on the reserve. I have always had a place in my heart for the wisdom and humble power of an elephant. The way they hold their massive bodies above those of humans and can generally acknowledge us as small creatures – knowing which ones are to be trusted and which ones are here to harm. Their intelligence and their protective drive give off safety while not falling short of showing us what they are capable of in the midst of a fight.

When I look into the eyes of the creature we call an elephant – past the lashes, the skin folds and the body – I see a soul that is present in life. A soul that is not here to harm but to be a gift to those who need a reminder of what life is – magic. I feel the energy of heart centered peace, love and wisdom although I am not sure that what we see even reaches the depth of what these large bodies and delicate souls are capable of.

We were staying at a volunteer house located on the Imire reserve. Each elephant had designated handlers – a man who would follow this elephant around all day while it roamed through the wildness. This mans only job to ensure the safety of these animals and that in the sight of poachers they could show up as an extra layer of defense.

I believe these handlers to be incising as their connection to their elephant was not just one of protection or surface level acknowledgement. These men saw these amazing animals as life force, as love and as family. They would look into their eyes everyday and would walk along side them for hours upon hours building the trust of each other. They played and they walked. They grew up along side one another and amidst the families of each man who they walked beside.

A job like this can be so easily admired by those who visit. I was there for six weeks and could see how fun and unique a job like that could be while not have a fully understanding of the danger that it brings. The elephant handlers told us a story of a terrible incident that had occurred just a few years prior. Poachers had shown up to the homes of the handles. Dark night sky, sleeping children, loyal men. Multiple enemies came into there family homes demanding access to the ivory rich beauties. Guns, knifes, violence and yelling. These men who worked in service of animals were no longer able to protect the creatures they had set out to accompany each day. Animals died that night – families were okay although I cannot help but acknowledge the bravery of the families and the animals as they were terrorized in the night.

I did what I could to assist the reservation on that trip. I helped with building fences and structures, moving bails of hay from place to place. It was not direct work that effected the animals but enough to be of service to the cause. This was the trip where I had met the soul of my spirit animal. This was the trip where I became educated on what it was genuinely like to live and work on a reserve that held precious life. I have grown to understand, see and deeply love all those I met and the opportunity I was given to grow. With this I take away new perspective and peace knowing that there are people out there who truly do care.